For immediate release – 2/21/2015 - #270
Hornets Fall in Tournament Warm-Up at Guilford

GREENSBORO, NC – The Lynchburg College women's basketball team could not overcome 32 points by Anais Weatherly as the Hornets fell to Guilford College 72-66 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play on Saturday.  It was the final game of the regular season for both teams as the conference tournament will begin this coming week.

Weatherly scored her first basket just 18 seconds into the game to give GC its first lead.  Guilford pushed the lead out to 6-0 three minutes into the game and held it there until Charmaine Hairston hit a three-point field goal at 16:46.  The Quakers took a 14-point advantage after a Jennette Taylor jump shot with 7:17 left in the half.  Olivia DeFrancesco hit a shot from deep at 6:00 which cut the lead to 11.  The Hornets slowly chipped away at the lead and after a Lauren Penley jump shot went into the half down only six. 

LC came out of the intermission strong and continued to cut the lead.  Shannon Allan made two jump shots and Sarah Coon and Chaney Forbush added layups to cut the deficit to two, 39-37, at 15:39.  Following a Guilford jump shot, DeFrancesco hit another three to knock the lead down to one. 

Lynchburg took the lead from the Guilford at 13:09 after a free throw from Caroline Naumann.  Weatherly made two from the charity stripe to retake the lead.  The teams went back and forth over the next few minutes until LC pushed its lead out to five on several occasions with the final one coming at 9:16 lead.

Guilford responded with a run that gave them the lead for good, taking an eight-point lead (63-55) with 5:29 left after a Weatherly jump shot.  Lynchburg would fight back and cut it as close as three with two minutes left after a DeFrancesco free throw, but would get no closer.

Allan led Lynchburg with 20 points, with Hairston and DeFrancesco reaching double-figures as well with 18 and 12 points respectively.

The Hornets defense held Guilford (16-9 overall, 10-6 ODAC) to 17% shooting from behind the arc.  The Quakers out rebounded LC by seven (46-39) in the game, which included 18 on the offensive end.  Kali Cuttaia led the way on the boards with a game-high 14.

Lynchburg (17-8, 12-4) will be the three seed in the upcoming ODAC tournament.  The Hornets will find out their opponent on Monday night after the play-in game between Washington and Lee University and Shenandoah University.

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