WEEK 1
W&L (0-0)
vs.
  MARY WASHINGTON (0-0)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Lexington, Va. • 7:00 pm

PDF Version of Notes

ALL-TIME RECORD
The Washington and Lee women’s basketball program is participating in its 19th varsity season during the 2011-12 school year.  Over that period of time, the Generals have compiled a 201-254 (.442) overall record.

THE HEAD GENERAL
Mandy King (Southern Maine ‘98) is in her ninth season as the head coach at Washington and Lee.  King is W&L’s all-time wins leader with a career record of 109-103 (.514).  She has led W&L to school-record win totals four times in her nine seasons, including a program-best 19-8 mark last season.  Over the last three seasons, King has guided the Generals to a 51-30 (.630) overall record, culminating in the 2009-10 team winning the program’s first-ever conference title and making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

FOR OPENERS
W&L is 4-14 all-time in season openers and has never begun a season with a win at home.

LAST TIME OUT
(Randolph-Macon 79, W&L 66 • Salem, Va. • 2/26/11)
Top-seeded Randolph-Macon used a 13-0 run midway through the first half to gain a lead that it would not relinquish in posting a 79-66 win over fourth-seeded Washington and Lee in the semifinal round of the ODAC Tournament at the Salem Civic Center. Following a jumper from forward Katy Wilson that gave the Generals (19-8) an 11-8 advantage at the 9:00 minute mark of the first half, R-MC scored the game’s next 13 points, including a pair of three-pointers from junior guard Maggie Roy, to grab a 21-11 lead with 6:16 left to play.  W&L quickly trimmed its deficit to five points (23-18) on a three pointer by senior guard Allie Long with 4:06 left in the opening period, but the Yellow Jackets quickly pushed back out to a 10-point lead (28-18) and took a nine-point advantage (34-25) into the break. In the second half, R-MC matched the Generals shot-for-shot until W&L used a 7-0 run to turn a 62-46 game into a 62-53 contest on a triple from forward Kari Ann Pfannenstein with 5:24 to play. The rally was short-lived however as Randolph-Macon came out of a timeout and promptly increased its lead back to 14 points (67-53) by the 4:03 mark as the Yellow Jackets dashed the Generals’ hopes of repeating as ODAC champs with the 13-point victory. As a team, R-MC shot 51.7 percent from the floor (30-58), compared to just 40.7 percent (24-59) for the Generals. The Yellow Jackets also held a slim 36-31 advantage on the boards and each team committed 17 turnovers. W&L had five players score in double figures, led by 14 points each from senior center Felice Herman and junior guard Meg Ingram. Pfannenstein and Long each tallied 11 points and forward Becca Bolton added 10 points. Herman also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and Bolton added eight boards three steals and three assists. The Yellow Jackets were paced by Roy, each poured in a game-high 26 points. Junior forward Molly Brown added 19 points and nine rebounds and junior center Taylor Wieczorek chipped in 12 points and seven caroms.

THE MARY WASHINGTON SERIES
Washington and Lee and Mary Washington will be meeting for the 11th time, with the Eagles holding a 7-3 advantage in the all-time series that began during the Generals’ inaugural season of 1993-94.  Mary Washington has won four of the last five meetings, but W&L emerged victorious last season when they knocked off the Eagles, 54-49.

LAST TIME AGAINST MARY WASHINGTON
(W&L 54, Mary Washington 49 • Fredericksburg, Va. • 11/16/10)
Washington and Lee held 17th-ranked Mary Washington to just one field goal over nearly 19 minutes of game action to produce a season-opening 54-49 victory at the Goolrick Gymnasium. Mary Washington guard Rachel Martin hit a jumper at the 14:05 mark of the opening period for a 6-3 lead, but the Generals tightened on the defensive end, holding the Eagles to just one field goal the rest of the half. W&L held UMW to just 13.6 percent shooting (3-22) in the first 20 minutes and outscored the Eagles 15-5 in the final 13:17 behind eight points from forward Rachel Warrick for an 18-11 lead at the break.  The Generals then held Mary Washington scoreless for the first 4:18 of the second half and used a 9-0 run sparked by five points from junior guard Meg Ingram to surge to a 27-11 lead with 15:42 left in the game. The Eagles chipped away at the W&L advantage and cut it to a six-point game (38-32) with 7:24 remaining, but consecutive baskets from Ingram and forward Katy Wilson pushed the lead back to double-digits (42-32) just 2:04 later.  The Eagles made a late run, scoring 12 points in the final 1:39, but the Generals nailed all six free throws from that point on to preserve their first win over Mary Washington in the last six meetings. Ingram led W&L in scoring with 18 points and five assists.  She shot 8-of-9 from the free throw line.  Warrick totaled 14 points and four rebounds, while junior forward Kari Ann Pfannenstein notched 10 points and five boards.  Wilson chipped in eight points and a game-high nine rebounds. Martin paced the Eagles with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor and 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc.  Guard Sam Partonen added seven points and five assists.

SCOUTING MARY WASHINGTON
Mary Washington is coming off of a 20-6 campaign, falling in the semifinals of the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament to Wesley.  The Eagles return all five starters from last season, including a pair of First Team All-Captial Athletic Conference selections in senior guards Jenna McRae and Katie Wimmer.  McRae averaged 12.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while Wimmer posted averages of 12.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per outing. Senior guard Rachel Martin is also a major returning piece for the Eagles after averaging 9.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, and nailing 41.2 percent (35-85) of her three-point attempts.

NOT QUITE CHUCK AND DUCK
This week’s game may not feature a chuck and duck offensive strategy as both teams tend to play a deliberate offensive pace to augment their stingy defensive efforts.  Last season, Mary Washington permitted teams to shoot just 32.4 percent from the floor while averaging just 46.8 points per game.  W&L limited its opponents to making good on just 37.4 percent of its shots while averaging just 58.0 points per game.  Conversely, Mary Washingon averaged just 58.4 points per game on offense, while W&L averaged just 67.1 points per game.

SENIOR SUCCESS
The Generals’ senior class comprises 3/5 of the starting lineup and nearly half of the team’s roster for the 2011-12 season.  However, the class’ contributions are far more reaching that that of just this year’s team.  They have helped to make a program.  Guards Meg Ingram, Kari Ann Pfannenstein and Allison Sublett, along with forward Becca Bolton, have helped lead the Generals to three-straight winning seasons and a 51-30 record over their first three seasons.  All told, they have combined to score 2,814 points and grab 1,177 rebounds over their first three seasons, which accounts for 52.5 percent of all the scoring and 41.1 percent of all the rebounding during their time with the squad.  More importantly, they have twice raised the program record for wins in a season and claimed the first conference title in school history.  They can graduate as the winningest class in program history with 10 more wins.  The 2011 class of Allie Long and Felice Herman currently hold the record with a 60-50 career record.

THE MILLENNUM CLUB
Nine players currently reside in the school’s millennium club for having scored 1,000 points in a career.  The Generals’ current squad claims two members of this exclusive club.  Senior guard Meg Ingram ranks sixth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,178 points and senior forward Becca Bolton is ninth with 1,042 points.  They are the first pair of teammates in program history to enter their senior season already having reached the milestone.

HOME COOKIN’
Washington and Lee loves playing in the friendly confines of the Warner Center where it has produced a 27-9 (.750) overall record since the beginning of the 2008-09 season.  The Generals went 11-2 at home last year, falling to a Top 10-ranked Christopher Newport club and ODAC runner-up Roanoke by a combined five points.  The Generals’ scoring margin at home was +14.5 points per game as compared to just +3.3 on the road.  W&L also shot 31 percentage points better (.424 home/.393 road) at home and averaged 10.8 more points per game on its home court.  One interestng anomaly in the home/road splits was the free throw shooting of junior forward Katy Wilson. Wilson shot 94.1 percent (32-34) from the stripe on the road and just 65.7 percent (23-35) at home.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE
Senior forward Becca Bolton has long been one of the team’s best scorers and rebounders and the numbers bear that out.  Bolton has posted 26 double-doubles during her career, 15 of which occured during her sophomore season when she averaged a double-double for the season with 15.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.  Bolton ranks ninth in school history in career scoring and sixth in career rebounding.  Bolton was a Second Team All-ODAC selection last season, but garnered First Team All-ODAC and Honorable Mention All-America honors following her sophomore campaign.

 -- GENERALS --