VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – The Randolph College women's basketball team opened its 2011-12 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) schedule Tuesday evening at Virginia Wesleyan College, falling to the Marlins 87-43 at the Jane Batten Center.

The host Marlins (2-0/1-0 ODAC) scored the first 12 points of the game, highlighted by three trifectas, two coming from Shawnee Lewis. Randolph (1-2/0-1 ODAC) struggled to score during the first half, netting only four points in the first 6:10 of the game. Unfortunately for the 'Cats, VWC opened up a 23-point advantage over that stretch.

Virginia Wesleyan grew the lead up to as much as 31 points before Randolph finished the half on a mini-run to cut the lead to 22 going into intermission. The WildCats struggled again from the floor in the second half, but 17 turnovers in the period led to Randolph only scoring 19 points as VWC pulled away.

First-year Brianna Lowry (Herndon, VA/Herndon) had 13 points and nine rebounds for the WildCats, while another newcomer in Jensen Hoover (Woodstock, VA/Central) posted seven points and eight rebounds. First-year Chelsea Tyler (Richmond, VA/Henrico) had five points, four boards and three blocks for Randolph, and fellow first-years Megan Russell (Pinnacle, NC/West Stokes) and Bonnie Bishop (Fairfax, VA/Trinity Christian) each scored six points.

Former WildCat Kristen Blalock scored a game-best 16 points for the Marlins, hitting six-of-10 from the floor. Lewis finished with 15 points and three steals, Sarah Seipp added 14 points and five steals and Joceyln Spencer went five-of-eight from the field for 10 points. All but one player scored for Virginia Wesleyan, as it shot 42 percent from the floor as opposed to the 25.6 percent of Randolph.

The rebounding totals were fairly close, as the Marlins held a slight 49-41 edge, but the final turnover disparage of 30-8 hurt Randolph in the end.

The WildCats will enjoy the next four days off before hosting Peace College Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the Randolph Athletics and Dance (RAD) Center.

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