LEXINGTON, Va.- The Randolph women's basketball team hit the road on Wednesday to face one of the top teams in the conference in Washington and Lee. The WildCats had a big lead heading into the second quarter but the Generals came back to overtake the 'Cats and come out with a 63-48 victory.
Randolph drops to 11-3 overall on the season and 6-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. W&L improves to 9-3 and 6-0 in conference play.
The game was tied 6-6 with under six minutes remaining in the first half. An 8-0 run by the 'Cats put Randolph ahead 14-6 with three minutes showing on the clock. The Generals closed to within four points with 1:32 left but a jumper by Alana Melendez (West Haverstraw, NY/North Rockland) and a three-point basket by Teniyah Crenshaw-Patterson (Newport News, Va./Heritage) gave the WildCats a 19-10 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Crenshaw-Patterson scored the first two baskets for the WildCats to begin the second quarter as the Randolph lead went to 13 points, 23-10, less than a minute into the period. Washington and Lee started to chip away at its deficit as a 15-4 run closed the Randolph lead to 27-25 with a little over three minutes to play in the period. The Generals would knot the score at 29-29 with 50 seconds left. Cierra Cook (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) made one of two free throw attempts with 32 seconds remaining as Randolph headed into the locker room ahead 30-29.
The third quarter started off well for the WildCats as they hit three of their first seven shot attempts to lead 36-31at 7:25. The tide turned in the Generals' favor from that point as a 20-2 run to end the quarter swung the momentum to the home team as they went up 51-38. Randolph's only points during that stretch came from free throws by Cook and Kylie Stark (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville).
W&L led 55-38 with just over eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. A Stark jumper at 7:55 broke the WildCat scoring drought. Randolph got as close as 12 points, 58-46, with 1:08 remaining but the game was well in hand by that point.
"We came out with great intensity and moved the ball offensively which allowed us to get off to a great start on the road," said head coach Steve Lanpher after the game. "In the third quarter I felt like our defense didn't maintain our discipline and energy. That allowed W&L too many good looks and way too many second shot opportunities."
Randolph shot 19-of-65 (29.2%) from the floor on the night. The WildCats did not do much better from behind the three-point arc as they shot 1-of-9 (11.1%). The Generals won the rebounding battle 53-40.
Cook led the WildCats with 16 points adding three rebounds and three steals. Crenshaw-Patterson contributed 15 points, six rebounds, and four steals. Stark finished with seven points, five rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Simone Brown (Norfolk, Va./Lake Taylor) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
"We need to use this as a great learning experience and grow from this loss," said Lanpher.
The WildCats return to Giles Gymnasium on Saturday to host first-place Randolph-Macon. Game time is at 2:00 p.m.
