W&L Women's Basketball Notes - Week 12

Game 20: W&L (5-14, 3-9) vs. Randolph (10-11, 4-8)
Date: Wednesday, February 12, 7:00 pm
Location: Lexington, Va.
Series Record: 30-11, W&L

Game 21: W&L (5-14, 3-9) vs. Lynchburg (13-8, 10-2)
Date: Saturday, February 15, 5:30 pm
Location: Lynchburg, Va.
Series Record: 20-19, W&L

Game notes

MEDIA NOTE
Following the game, Head Coach Christine Clancy or a player takes a minute to answer some questions about her team’s performance. The interview is normally up 20 minutes after the game and can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/wlusports.

THE HEAD GENERAL
Christine Clancy (Brandeis  ‘06) is in her second season as the head coach at Washington and Lee after serving as the assistant coach during the 2011-12 season. In her first season at the helm of the program, Clancy led a W&L team picked to finish last in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference to the No. 8 seed out of 12 teams for the conference tournament.  The Generals won a first round contest before falling to top-seeded Eastern Mennonite, 68-58, in the quarterfinals.  W&L ended the season with a 9-16 overall record and finished among the league leaders in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. Coach Clancy’s overall record as a head coach is 36-37.

ALL-TIME RECORD
The Washington and Lee women’s basketball program is participating in its 21st varsity season during the 2013-14 school year.  Over that period of time, the Generals have compiled a 229-295 (.437) overall record and have won     one Old Dominion Athletic Conference title (2010).

LAST TIME OUT
Roanoke 72, W&L 55 • Salem, Va. • 2/8/14
The Washington and Lee women’s basketball team shot just 28.4 percent (19-67) from the floor in falling to Roanoke by a score of 72-55 in the Bast Center on Saturday afternoon. The Generals (5-15, 3-9) hung within two possessions of the lead until an 18-4 run stretched a six-point lead (20-14) out to 18 points (38-20) with just 1:40 left in the first half. W&L hit just 1-of-11 shots from the floor over a stretch of 7:09 as the Maroons (10-10, 6-6) seized control of the contest behind seven points from senior guard Laurel Hankins. W&L shot just 9-of-34 (.265) from the floor and was 2-of-11 (.182) from three in the first half en route to a 38-24 deficit at the break. Roanoke then opened the second half with a 13-4 surge behind six points from senior guard Paxton Gwin to open a 51-28 lead with 13:39 left in the game. The Generals cut it to a 13-point game (57-44) with 8:29 left following a 10-2 run that featured five points from first-year guard Cam Tyler, but Roanoke went on an immediate 8-0 run and W&L never challenged from that point forward. The Generals committed just 12 turnovers in the contest, but simply could not overcome their frigid shooting. Sophomore forwards Shelbi Hendricks and Katie Wildes, and Tyler tied for the team lead with nine points each. Junior guard Annie Gauf added eight points and tied a career high with nine rebounds. However, she hit just 3-of-18 shots from the field. Gwin paced the Maroons with 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Junior guard Tatum McKee chipped in 12 points and a game-high 13 boards. As a team, Roanoke shot 41.7 percent (30-72) from the floor while holding a 49-43 advantage on the glass.

THE RANDOLPH SERIES
W&L and Randolph will be facing off for the 42nd time, with the Generals holding a 30-11 edge in the all-time series. Earlier this season, the WildCats took down W&L, 71-58, on November 20 in Lynchburg.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Randolph enters the week with a 10-11 overall record and a 4-8 ODAC mark after falling to Eastern Mennonite, 72-54, on Saturday. The Royals led in free throws 78.9 to 44.4 percent and outrebounded RC, 47-31. Sophomore guard Abigail Bullins led Randolph with 13 points, followed by 12 from senior guard Emilee Dunton. Dunton also dished out a team-high five assists. Junior guard Allie Druffel contributed six points and a game-high seven rebounds, while senior forward Jensen Hoover added 11 points and six rebounds. For the season, Bullins leads the team at 13.1 points per game, while Dunton adds 10.8 points per outing. Hoover chips in 9.6 points per game, while recording a team-high 8.3 rebounds per contest.

LAST TIME AGAINST RANDOLPH • RC 71, W&L 58 (11/20/13)
Randolph College limited Washington and Lee to just 30.4 percent (21-69) shooting from the floor en route to posting a 71-58 victory over the Generals at the RAD Center. The Generals took a 9-7 lead at the 11:40 mark of the first half on a jumper by junior guard Annie Gauf. However, W&L missed each of its next five shots from the field and the WildCats went on a 9-0 run over the next 3:51 to take a 16-9 lead with 7:49 left in the half. The Randolph lead swelled to as many as eight points in the first half in carrying a 32-26 lead into the break. RC held a 34-26 advantage just 35 seconds into the second stanza, but the Generals produced a 9-0 run over the next 2:59 to assume a one-point lead (35-34) on a jumper by sophomore forward Wesleigh Vick at the 16:26 mark. However, the WildCats hit back-to-back triples by sophomore guard Abigail Bullins and senior guard Emilee Dunton to take the lead right back at 40-35 with 16:06 remaining. The WildCats maintained an eight-point lead (55-47) with 9:49 remaining before using a 13-2 run keyed by seven points from junior forward Jensen Hoover to take a commanding 68-49 lead with 3:35 left in the game. W&L committed just nine turnovers in the game, but could not overcome poor shooting and a 53-43 disadvantage on the boards. Gauf paced the Generals with 13 points, while sophomore guard Paige Corvino totaled 11 points and eight rebounds.  Sophomore forwards Shelbi Hendricks and Katie Wildes scored nine points each, and Vick added five points and 12 rebounds. Randolph shot 43.5 percent (27-62) from the floor and was led by Hoover, who tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds. First-year guard Brie Holdren notched 11 points, and Dunton chipped in 10 markers.

THE LYNCHBURG SERIES
W&L and Lynchburg will be facing off for the 40th time, with the Generals holding a slight 20-19 edge in the all-time series. Earlier this season, the Hornets took down W&L, 63-46, on January 15 in Lexington.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS
Lynchburg enters the week with a 13-8 overall record and a 10-2 ODAC mark after junior forward Shannon Allan nailed a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to lift the Hornets to a thrilling 79-78 victory at Bridgewater on Saturday. Allan scored a game-high 25 points, making 10 of her 18 shots from the floor and three of seven from downtown. She added six defensive rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot. Junior guard Lauren Penley played a team-high 37 minutes and had 19 points and nine assists, converting on 8-of-11 shots from the field. First-year guard Charmaine Hairston netted 13 of her 18 points in the second half, and finished with three three-pointers and three steals. Senior point guard Ann Dorris added six points and four assists. For the season, Allen leads the team at 15.7 points per game, while sophomore Chaney Forbush adds 11.6 points per outing and a team-high 8.5 rebounds per game. Hairston chips in 10.8 points per game and also corrals a team-high 1.7 steals per game.

LAST TIME AGAINST LYNCHBURG • LC 63, W&L 46 (1/15/13)
The Lynchburg Hornets held the Generals to just 26.9 percent shooting and forced 12 turnovers in the second half en route to a 63-46 victory over the Blue and White at the Warner Center. The game remained tight in the first 9:22, with both teams going basket-for-basket. With the Generals holding a 14-12 lead, LC tied the game with 10:38 left to play when Jaimie Grace made a jump shot off a Sammi Goldsmith assist. The Hornets began to pull away and went on a 26-12 run to take a 40-26 lead at the intermission. In the second half, Lynchburg stretched the lead to as many as 18 (60-42) with 3:40 left in the game. The Generals outscored LC, 4-3, in the closing minutes to reach the final margin. For the game, the Hornets out-rebounded the Generals, 46-45, and forced the Blue and White into 17 turnovers. LC also held a 16-7 edge in assists. First-year guard Jackie Clifford led W&L’s offense with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists. First-year forward Samantha Sharman added eight points, while sophomore forward Wesleigh Vick chipped in five points, but tallied a game-high nine rebounds and three steals. Goldsmith led LC in scoring with 12 points off of 5-of-7 shooting from the field, including 2-of-2 from three-point land. She also recorded a game-high five assists. First-year guard Charmaine Hairston added nine points, while sophomore forward Sarah Coon and junior forward Shannon Allan each chipped in eight points. Senior guard Ann Dorris had a solid floor game, finishing with six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

FANTASTIC FREE-THROWS
In the last three games, W&L has been lights out from the foul line. The Generals are shooting 83.3 percent (45-54). W&L set a new season high for free-throw percentage in a game after making 21-of-22 from the line (95.5 percent) in the 66-64 loss to Hollins. It’s previous high was 90.0 percent when the Blue and White shot 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in a 60-48 loss to Hollins in Lexington. The best percentage the Generals had this season when attempting 20+ free-throws was 76.7 percent when they made 23-of-30 in a 96-76 loss at Randolph-Macon. Prior to the second Hollins game, the Generals percentage against Hollins was just one hundredth of a point away from tying the program record of 95.6 percent when the team went 22-of-23 from the line at Emory & Henry on January 12, 2002. Against EMU on February 4, W&L went 11-of-14 for 78.6 percent and against Roanoke on February 8 the Blue and White went 13-of-18 or 72.2 percent. For the season, the Generals are shooting 67.6 percent (255-377) from the line and rank fourth in the conference.

LIGHTS, CAM-ERA, ACTION
First-year guard Cam Tyler sprung into action last week after coming back from an injury. She averaged 25 minutes over the two games and tallied 19 points to average 9.5 points per game. She went a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe and made three triples in seven attempts (42.8 percent). Tyler pulled in seven rebounds and dished out two assists as well.

NEW HIGHS
Junior guard Annie Gauf set a new career-high in assists in a 69-66 victory over Bridgewater on January 25. She dished out nine assists with four turnovers for a positive 2.2 assists-to-turnover ratio and was one shy of joining W&L’s Top-5 list for assists in a game. She currently leads the team with 54 assists on the season to average 2.8 per game, which ranks eighth in the conference. For her career, she has 173 assists and is just 40 away from surpassing Kristen Krouchick (2004-08) on W&L’s Top-10 list for career assists. She set another career-high after she notched 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a 4-of-7 mark from downtown against EMU on February 4. Her previous career-high was 21 points, which she set in a 66-64 loss to Hollins just three days prior to EMU (February 1).

STARTING PRODUCTION
In a 96-76 loss to Randolph-Macon on January 23, W&L had all five starters score in double figures. The last time a Generals’ team has done that was on February 17, 2012 when Becca Bolton, Meg ingram, Katy Wilson, Rachel Warrick and Kari Pfannenstein all scored more than 10 points.

HITTING THE CENTURY MARK
Sophomore forwards Wesleigh Vick and Shelbi Hendricks reached 100 career made field goals following a 61-52 win over Shenandoah on January 28. Hendricks has made 106-of-286 for a career percentage of 37.0, to average 7.7 points per game over her two seasons. Vick has made 117-of-259 for a percentage of 45.1 to average 6.6 points per game over her career.