College Women’s Basketball Final—Guilford 82, N.C. Wesleyan 63

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College’s Anais Weatherly (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) led all scorers with 18 points as the Quakers collected a Tuesday night victory over North Carolina Wesleyan College, 82-63. The win marks Head Coach Stephanie Flamini’s 188th win at Guilford, which now stands as a program record.

Flamini’s mark breaks Barb Bausch’s all-time record at 187 wins for Guilford’s previous leader from 1993 to 2003. The school’s longest tenured coach, Flamini’s record at Guilford now stands at 188-139.

Guilford’s slowly developed a large lead in the first quarter, growing the lead to seven points 3:47 into the contest. The Quakers closed the opening stanza on a 7-2 run to extend the lead into double digits. Guilford’s advantage extended as far as 19 points in the second quarter as the Quakers’ bench produced 13 points. N.C. Wesleyan struggled to produce offense in the first half, shooting 22.9 percent from the field while the Quakers shot 44.1 percent.

The Quakers stepped on the gas pedal in the third quarter, extending their lead as large as 26 points, by producing 14 points off of Battling Bishop turnovers. Guilford established a strong post presence in the quarter by dominating points in the paint, 18-6. Guilford topped off a strong defensive performance in the fourth quarter with 11 more points off of N.C. Wesleyan turnovers as both benches battled for most of the period.

Weatherly added six rebounds and four steals to her game-high point total on eight-of-12 shooting. Ymani Breedlove notched her first career double-double, tallying ten points and 13 rebounds off the bench on three-of-six shooting. Kate Clark rounded out Guilford’s offense with nine points on three-of-five shooting.

Timyra Slaton led the Battling Bishops with a double-double ten points and 13 rebounds on four-of-six shooting, representing the only N.C. Wesleyan player in double-figure scoring. Shekinah Huggins added eight points, four rebounds, and four assists.

Guilford shot 41.3 percent for the contest and 69.6 percent (16-of-23) from the foul line. N.C. Wesleyan improved their field goal percentage to 32.3 percent thanks to a 44.4 percent second-half effort. The Battling Bishops shot 73.1 percent (19-of-26) from the foul line. Both sides shot four-of-15 from beyond the arc.

25 of the Quakers’ 29 points off 26 Battling Bishop turnovers came in the second half while N.C. Wesleyan only produced five points off 17 Guilford turnovers for the contest. Guilford ran the fast break to their advantage, holding a 14-2 edge.

The Quakers (4-1) return to action after the Thanksgiving break on Tuesday, December 1st with a 7 p.m. contest at William Peace University.