Week 8

WASHINGTON AND LEE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (9-7, 8-4 ODAC) 

Feb. 2 at Virginia Wesleyan (10-7, 7-5 ODAC); 7:00 pm
Feb. 5 vs. Lynchburg College (4-13, 3-9 ODAC); 7:00 pm
Feb. 6 at Randolph College (3-15, 2-12 ODAC); 4:00 pm

PDF Version of the Notes

KING OF THE GENERALS
Mandy King (Southern Maine ’98) is in her seventh season as head women’s basketball coach at W&L and is the program’s all-time winningest coach with an 81-92 (.468) record.  She is assisted by Abby Pyzik (Lynchburg ‘04), who is in her second season. Facing this week’s competition, King holds a record of 4-10 vs. Virginia Wesleyan, 8-5 against Lynchburg College and 9-4 vs. Randolph.

THE WEEK AHEAD
W&L will continue its second go-around against ODAC competition, traveling to Virginia Wesleyan on Tuesday before playing a back-to-back set against Lynchburg College on Friday and Randolph on Saturday. The Generals lost to Virginia Wesleyan on a buzzer-beater on Jan. 5 (47-48) at the Warner Center, but went on to defeat both Lynchburg and Randolph by 20+ points in their next two contests (Jan. 8 and 9). In program history, the Blue and White are 12-22 against Virginia Wesleyan, 16-15 versus Lynchburg and 24-9 against Randolph.
 
LAST TIME OUT (vs. Guilford College, W, 69-66)
Sophomore forward Becca Bolton scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help lead the Washington and Lee women’s basketball team to a 69-66 win over Guilford on Friday at the Warner Center. The Quakers recovered from a 14-point (47-33) second half deficit to take a one-point lead (66-65) on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Jazlyn Gibbs with 47 seconds remaining. The Generals tied the game at 66-66 with 33 seconds left when sophomore guard Meg Ingram hit 1-of-2 free throws.  Following a defensive stop, W&L first-year guard Katy Wilson was fouled on a break-out and hit the second of two free throws for a 67-66 lead with 21 seconds left. Guilford first-year guard Brittany Atwater missed a contested layup on the ensuing possession and Bolton knocked down a pair of charity tosses for a 69-66 lead with four seconds left.  Gibbs’ half-court shot at the buzzer hit off the back rim and the Generals escaped with the win. Tied 26-26 at the half, the Generals opened up the second stanza with a 13-0 run over the first 4:36 to take a 13-point lead (39-26) at the 15:24 mark. Guilford would respond with a 21-12 run to pull within one at the 6:10 mark (51-50), setting up the game’s final minutes. W&L was hampered by poor shooting in the first half, shooting 32.3 percent (10-31), including 15.4 percent (2-13) from the arc. Meanwhile the Quakers shot 37.0 percent (10-27) from the field in the opening stanza. Bolton tallied her ninth double-double of the season on the strength of 10-of-12 shooting from the floor and 11-for-11 shooting from the foul line. Junior center Felice Herman added 14 points, five rebounds and a career-high five assists.

LAST TIME VS. VIRGINIA WESLEYAN (Jan. 5, L, 47-48)
Virginia Wesleyan sophomore guard Jocelyn Spencer hit the winning jumper as time expired to lead the Marlins to a 48-47 victory over W&L at the Warner Center. Virginia Wesleyan led by 12 points (30-18) at the half and extended their lead to 14 points (34-20) with 16:53 remaining.  However, the Generals would respond with an 18-2 run to assume a 38-36 lead with 7:40 left in the game. Neither team would lead by more than three points for the remainder of the game, with W&L taking the one-point lead off a layup by sophomore guard Becca Bolton with 10 seconds left. Following a time out, Virginia Wesleyan sophomore guard Shawnee Lewis missed a layup with two seconds remaining, with Spencer collecting the rebound and scoring the game-winning basket at the buzzer. W&L held VWC to just 18.5 percent (5-27) shooting in the second half and held a 45-36 advantage on the boards. Junior forward Felice Herman led the Generals with 15 points and six rebounds. Bolton recorded her third double-double of the season, notching 12 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists, while sophomore guard Meg Ingram chipped in 11 points and six boards. Virginia Wesleyan was paced by senior forward Maggie Davis’ 14 points and seven rebounds.  Senior guard Tonia Jones added 11 points.

LAST TIME VS. LYNCHBURG (Jan. 8, W, 72-52)
Junior forward Felice Herman and sophomore forward Becca Bolton shot a combined 14-of-21 (.667) from the floor in leading Washington and Lee to a 72-52 victory over Lynchburg College. The Generals took a 6-4 lead on a Bolton layup with 14:05 left in the first half and never trailed again in posting their first win at LC since January of 2007. W&L upped its advantage to nine points (35-26) at the half and carried a lead of at least eight points throughout the second stanza en route to the 20-point win. Bolton led the Generals with 17 points and nine rebounds, shooting 7-of-9 from the field. Herman tallied 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added seven rebounds and three blocks. First-year guard Rachel Warrick chipped in 12 points in 19 minutes of action off the bench. The Hornets were led by Katie Crump, Danielle Moorad and Caitlin Falls, who scored 10 points apiece. Tamara Snead posted nine points and seven boards for a LC squad that was out-rebounded, 43-34.

LAST TIME VS. RANDOLPH (Jan. 9, W, 85-48)
Sophomore guard Meg Ingram led four Generals in double digits with a game-high 18 points and W&L tied the program record for most three-point shots made in a game in a 85-48 victory over Randolph College. W&L shot 63.2 (12-19) percent from behind the arc en-route to connecting on 12 three-point shots, tying the program record for three-point shots made in a game. The Generals also made 12 three-pointers in an 86-61 victory at Guilford on Feb. 21, 2008. Randolph recorded the first points of the contest on a three-point shot from senior guard Katie Rechnitzer, but the Generals then outscored the WildCats 38-13 in taking a 38-16 at the half, and cruised to their fourth win of the season. The Generals limited the WildCats to just 32.7 percent (17-52) shooting and forced 23 turnovers. W&L shot 48.4 percent (30-62), including 61.5 percent (16-26) in the second half. In addition to her 18 points, Ingram added four assists and three rebounds. Sophomore guard Kari Ann Pfannenstein contributed a season-high 13 points. First-year forward Rachel Warrick chipped in 12 points and eight boards and junior guard Allie Long notched a season-high 10 points. All 11 Generals’ players dented the scoring column in the contest. Randolph was led by senior forward Lindsay Cross, who tallied 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Rechnitzer added 14 points.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA WESLEYAN
VWC is 10-7 on the season, including a 7-5 mark in the ODAC. The Marlins are coming off a 75-42 loss to Bridgewater College last Tuesday. The Eagles never trailed and controlled the tempo from start to finish. Virginia Wesleyan trailed 37-24 at halftime and could not cut into the spread as Bridgewater connected on nearly 56 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half. VWC hit only 29 percent from the floor for the game and didn’t fare much better from the free throw lines where they hit only 6-of-18 charity tosses. Sophomore forward Kristen Blalock led Virginia Wesleyan in scoring with 11 points, while senior guard Tonia Jones and senior forward Maggie Davis both contributed nine points. For the year the Marlins are paced by Jones, who is averaging 12.5 points and 2.4 steals per game, both team highs. Davis chips in an average of 9.8 points per game, while leading the team in repounds (8.8 rpg) and blocked shots (1.7 bpg).

SCOUTING LYNCHBURG COLLEGE
Lynchburg is currently 4-13, posting a record of 3-9 in the ODAC. The Hornets will travel to Ferrum College on Tuesday before making the trip to Lexington on Friday. Senior forward Tamara Snead leads LC with averages 9.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

SCOUTING RANDOLPH
Randolph will take to the road on Tuesday, facing Randolph-Macon before returning home to play W&L on Saturday. On the season, the WildCats are 3-15, with a record of 2-12 in conference play. Randolph is led by senior guard Katie Rechnitzer and senior forward Lindsay Cross, who are averaging 15.1 and 14.9 points per game, respectively.  

SHOOTING STARS
Junior center Felice Herman and sophomore forward Becca Bolton are among the top shooters in the ODAC. Bolton now sits atop the ODAC field goal percentage leaderboard, shooting 53.7 percent (94-175), while Herman is right behind in second at 53.2 percent shooting (59-111).

HELPING HAND
Sophomore guard Meg Ingram currently leads the ODAC in assists, recording 62 (3.9 apg) helpers on the season. She also ranks fifth in the conference with a 1.0 assist/turnover ratio (62a, 62t). Earlier this season, Ingram tied a career-high with eight assists against Hollins (Nov. 30).

TOP OF THE HEAP
Sophomore guard Becca Bolton has led the charge for the Generals this season as the top scorer and rebounder in 10 of 16 contests, and has been the team leader in either individual category in 15 of the teams’ 16 contests. Bolton recorded 31 points against Guilford on Jan. 29, becoming the first W&L player since Meg Ingram to record 30+ points in a contest (Dec. 30, 2008 vs. Newport News Apprentice, 31 pts.). During that contest, Bolton also went a perfect 11-11 from the line, tying a program record for best free throw percentage in a game (recorded two other occasions).

SEEING DOUBLES
Sophomore guard Becca Bolton recorded her ninth double-double of the season and 17th of her career on Jan. 29 against Guilford (31 pts, 13 reb), establishing a career-high for double-doubles in a season (she recorded eight last year). Bolton still trails Jessica Hunsinger ‘06, who recorded a program-high 14 double-doubles during her freshman campaign (2003-04) and 47 for her career. Over Bolton’s two-year career, the Generals are 10-7 (.588) when she records a double-double.

PUT THE GOOD FOOT FORWARD
After averaging 4.6 points, 4.6 shots and 5.1 rebounds per game over the first seven games, junior center Felice Herman seems to have found her stride from last season, when she averaged 10.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in leading the ODAC in field goal percentage (.557). Over the last nine contests, Herman has averaged 11.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, while taking an average of 8.8 shots per game and going 46-79 (.582) from the field.

DIFFERENTIATING POINTS
W&L has eight ODAC victories this season, and has outscored its opponents 584-435 (18.6 ppg) in those contests. In its four ODAC losses, W&L has been outscored, 230-203 (6.8 ppg). Three of the four contests were decided by a combined seven points (2.3 point average), with the Generals going 1-3 in games decided by four points or less.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS
The Generals’ starting five of Kari Ann Pfannenstein, Meg Ingram, Becca Bolton, Allie Long and Felice Herman have been the driving force behind W&L’s offense this season, scoring 76.9 percent (772-1,004) of its points thus far. The pentad is averaging 48.4 points, 26.7 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game.

TARGET IN SIGHT
In the Generals’ eight wins this season, they have shot a combined 43.9 percent (225-512) from the floor.  Compare that to the team’s seven losses, where W&L has shot just 35.0 percent (127-363) from the field.  Additionally, the Generals tend to shoot better from the floor in the first half of games (.416, 189-454) than during the second half (.361, 166-460). Currently the Generals rank third in the ODAC, shooting 40.4 percent (351-869) from the field.

TAKE THE LEAD
This season, the Generals are 8-1 when leading and 1-0 when the game is tied at halftime, with their only loss coming at Christopher Newport on Nov. 21. Their largest lead going into the half has been 29 points (at Hollins, 11/30), with five of the 10 other contests separated by single-digit margins. On the flip side, in the six contests that W&L has been down at the half, three games have been by double-digits.

NEW YEAR, BETTER RESULTS
Over the past six seasons under head coach Mandy King, the Generals have been more successful in the final two months of the season compared to the first two. King has a record of 10-17 (.370) in November and 9-16 (.360) in December, but in turn has led W&L to a 39-35 (.527) record in January and 23-26 (.469) mark in February. The Generals went 7-3 (.700) in January this season, the second-best record during the first year of the month in program history (last season the team went 8-3 (.727) in January).

--GENERALS--