The University of Mary Washington women's basketball team defeated St. Mary's College (Md.), 66-48, on Wednesday night at Ron Rosner Arena, in a matchup of former Capital Athletic Conference foes. The Eagles improve to 16-6 on the season.
Powered by the four seniors starting for senior night, UMW opened up an 18-8 lead after 10 minutes. Tory Martin opened the scoring for UMW, and Thora Gibbs followed with another basket, and another Martin basket upped the Eagle lead to 6-0 with 7:42 remaining. Martin and Gibbs each added another score to keep the Eagle margin, at 10-4, with 5:26 left. The underclassmen contributed from there on, with Ashley Martin, Keagan Schwab and Sydney Sherman each scoring atwo points, as the Eagles held an 18-8 lead.
UMW started swiftly in the second, scoring the first seven points, including a three from Schwab with 7:38 left until halftime to raise the lead to 25-8. St. Mary's then went on a run that included eight straight points, to draw back to within 10, at 28-18, but Gibbs hit another runner and Sherman added two baskets to return the lead to 14. UMW led at intermission by 16, 38-22.
The Seahawks opened the third with five straight points to draw to with 11, but Schwab and Ashley Martin hit three pointers to keep UMW comfortably in front, 44-29. St. Mary's closed to within nine at 44-35, but a pair of Jordan Carpenter baskets kept UMW up by 13 heading to the fourth quarter.
The teams traded baskets to open the fourth until Carpenter hit a layup and Bri Harper connected for a three pointer to up UMW's lead to 57-39 with 5:27 left. Harper hit another three with 3:54 left to up the margin to 62-40, and Madi Wisensale hit a jumper with 1:03 left to keep the lead at 20, before the Eagles carried away an 18-point victory.
Ashley Martin, Sherman, and Schwab led UMW with 10 points apiece, while Gibbs and Tory Martin each scored eight. Sherman added 10 rebounds for her first double double.
UMW shot 42.9% (24-56), making 5-15 three point attempts and 13-21 free throws. St. Mary's shot 30.2% (19-63), making 10-20 free throws.
The Eagles will return to action on Saturday when they host Pratt Institute at 1:00 p.m., as part of the C2C Classic, with Christopher Newport facing UC Santa Cruz at 3 p.m.