College Women’s Basketball Final – Guilford 63, Lynchburg 50

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College’s Anais Weatherly (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mount Tabor) posted her third consecutive 20-point game as the Quakers widened their first-place advantage over Lynchburg College in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) with a Wednesday night victory, 63-50.

In a contest that featured six ties and seven lead changes, Lynchburg opened the first four minutes of the contest with a 10-6 advantage. Guilford erased the lead one minute later than to a 5-0 run, but Lynchburg closed the first quarter countering the 5-0 rally thanks to a Chaney Forbush buzzer-beating three-pointer. Both sides stayed within one possession of each other for most of the second quarter until Heaven Walters (Yadkinville, N.C./Starmount) scored seven straight Guilford points to boast a six-point lead with 1:10 left in the period, their largest lead of the half.

The Quakers achieved a six-point lead twice to start the third quarter, but Lynchburg cut the deficit to two points with 5:23 left in the period. Guilford bumped the lead back to five points 1:34 later, but the Hornets quickly closed within one point. The Quakers propelled their lead back to five points to close the period. Lynchburg closed within one point again 34 seconds into the fourth quarter, but would never to tie the game. The Quakers eclipsed their largest lead with 5:23 left in the final frame, extending the advantage to eight points. Their lead quickly extended to double digits, closing the contest with their largest lead at 13 points.

Weatherly led all scorers 20 points on eight-of-17 shooting while pulling down four rebounds with three steals. Lauren Ramsey (Lexington, N.C./North Davidson) finished with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Kayla Scott came off the bench to score 10 points and pull down seven rebounds.

Charmine Hairston led the Hornets with 16 points, shooting three-of-21 from the field and nine-of-ten from the foul line. Caroline Naumann finished with 14 points and eight rebounds to represent three Hornets in double-figure scoring.

The Quakers shot 44.2 percent from the field while shooting 17-of-23 from the foul line. Lynchburg shot 22.6 percent from the field while shooting 19-of-22 from the charity stripe. Guilford did not make a shot from three-point range on eight attempts while Lynchburg shot three-of-13 from beyond the arc.

Lynchburg out-rebounded the Quakers, 43-38, thanks to 20 offensive rebounds which helped the Hornets earn a 13-8 edge on second-chance points. However, the Guilford offense held the edge in the paint, 38-18. Lynchburg turned 16 Guilford turnovers into 16 points while the Quakers turned 19 Lynchburg miscues into 11 points. Guilford’s bench overwhelmed the Hornets, 17-2.

Coach Stephanie Flamini’s Quakers return to action Saturday, hosting Washington and Lee University for a 4:30 p.m. ODAC contest.