O'Donnell Becomes Ninth Shorewomen To Net 1,000 Points At WC

CHESTERTOWN, MD – Senior guard/forward Sally O'Donnell (Cape May Court House, NJ/Wildwood Catholic) scored her 1,000th career point at Washington College as the host Shorewomen topped visiting Ursinus, 60-47, at the Cain Athletic Center in Centennial Conference women's basketball action on Wednesday night.  The Shorewomen improve to 15-9 overall and 10-9 in conference play with the win, while the Bears fall to 13-11 and 12-7 respectively.

O'Donnell, who scored 15 points on the night, netted her 1,000th point at Washington on a free throw with 7:01 left in the game that put the hosts up 47-39.  She scored her 1,000th career point on February 8 at Swarthmore and now has 1,038 career points and 1,005 points as a Shorewoman.  She joins her sister Jane O'Donnell '10 in the 1,000 Point Club at Washington College.  Jane scored her 1,000th career point on February 21, 2009 in a 66-58 win over Johns Hopkins and finished second all-time with 1,264 career points.

With the win Washington keeps it Centennial Conference Tournament hopes alive as they needed to beat Ursinus and have Muhlenberg beat Haverford and Gettysburg top Dickinson.  Muhlenberg downed Haverford, 60-52, and Gettysburg topped Dickinson, 68-56.

The Shorewomen, who never trailed in the game, took the lead for good with 14:27 left in the first half on a layup by sophomore forward Liz Warkala (New York, NY/Marymount School).  A free throw by sophomore forward/center Latisha Pledger (Chesapeake, VA/Indian River) with 7:02 left gave Washington its biggest lead of the first half at 19-11.  The hosts took a 26-19 lead into halftime.

In the second half, O'Donnell canned a three on the opening possession to give the Shorewomen their first double-digit lead of the game at 29-19.  Washington led 34-25 with 15:54 left following a layup by senior guard Meghan Tait (Oxford, PA/Oxford Area) when Ursinus went a 12-4 run to cut the lead to 38-37 with 10:49 remaining in the game on a Diamond Lewis layup.  On WC's next possession, Tait drained a three-pointer to put WC up 41-37.  The make ignited a 22-10 game-closing run for the hosts.  After a Jen Sroba layup cut the lead to 41-39 with 9:02 left, sophomore guard Kelly Mitchell (Laurel, MD/Academy of the Holy Cross) made a triple 28 ticks later to make it 44-39.  WC would push the lead to 12 points at 53-41 with 4:03 left on a Mitchell trifecta.  The Shorewomen eventually led by as many as 13 points on two occasions, the second time with 12 seconds left on a pair of free throws by O'Donnell that made it 60-47 and provided the final margin.

Tait had a double-double with a game-topping 16 points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while just missing out on a triple double as she handed out nine assists.  Joining Tait and O'Donnell in double figures for the hosts was Mitchell who scored 12 points, all of her points coming from three-point range.  O'Donnell blocked four shots to lead all players as WC rejected eight Ursinus' shots in the win.  The Shorewomen shot 35% from the floor, 57% (8-for-14) from three-point range and 64% (14-for-22) from the foul line.

Lindsay Teuber had a team-best 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Bears, while leading all players with three steals.  Kristy George added 10 points for the visitors.  The Bears shot 29% from the floor, 23% from three-point land and 62% (8-for-13) from the free throw line.  Ursinus held a 43-41 edge in rebounds.

Washington is back in action on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. against visiting Bryn Mawr in conference play in the home finale.  A win by the Shorewomen and a wins by Gettysburg over McDaniel and Swarthmore over Haverford will get the Shorewomen into the 2012 Centennial Conference Tournament.