LANCASTER, Pa. - Washington College women's basketball topped host Franklin & Marshall, 58-51, on Saturday afternoon at the Mayser Center in Centennial Conference women's basketball action in the regular season finale, surviving a second half rally to hang for the win. WC received the necessary help to clinch the fourth slot and a home playoff game with Dickinson's 83-65 win over Ursinus and a 71-57 Swarthmore loss to Johns Hopkins.  The Shorewomen will host fifth seeded Ursinus on Tuesday night in the team's first home conference tournament game in program history with game time to be determined on Monday morning.  Washington finishes its regular season 14-11 overall and 11-9 in the conference, while F&M ends its campaign at 10-15 and 5-15 respectively.
 
Washington College 58 Franklin and Marshall 51

How It Happened
- The Diplomats started the game with a 5-0 run over the visitors. They took a 9-8 lead after one quarter of action.
- A free throw from Serena Pluta tied the game early in the second quarter at 9-9 and WC scored the next six unanswered points to lead 15-9 with 5:57 left in the second on a Kaitlyn Boggs layup.
- WC took a 22-13 lead into the half, using a 14-4 second, to take a lead it would never relinquish.
- The guests outscored the home side 20-19 in the third quarter to lead 42-32 after three quarters.
- In the fourth quarter, Franklin & Marshall would bring the game within two points from a late Lizzie Neville three-pointer, shortening the lead to 52-50 with 47 seconds left in the fourth.
- WC would score six of the game's last seven points, to pull away with Pluta starting it with a traditional three-point play with 42 ticks left to make it 55-50.
 
For The Shorewomen (14-11, 11-9 CC)
- Pluta (game-best 21 points, 15-for-18 from foul line, five rebounds), Boggs (10 points, five rebounds), Karry Kelliher (nine points, five rebounds and two steals), Kiersten Rose (game-high 10 rebounds), Abby Meredith (two steals)
- The visitors shot 16-for-47 (34%) from the floor, 1-for-4 (25%) from three, and 25-for-30 (83.3%) at the free throw line.
- WC outscored the Diplomats 26-8 in the paint, and 17-3 in second chance points. WC had 21 turnovers in the matchup.
 
For Franklin and Marshall (10-15, 5-15 CC)
- Jaclyn Feit (team-high 11 points and four rebounds), Neville (10 points and game best four steals), Kayla McCrea (10 points, four rebounds).
- The hosts shot 16-58 (27.6%) on FG's, 5-23 (21.7%) from beyond the arch, and 14-20 (70%) at the foul line.
- Franklin and Marshall coughed it up 14 times in the contest. They outscored WC 16-9 in points from the bench, and points off turnovers 14-6.
 
Notes
- WC will host their first home playoff game in program history.  The team hosted an East Division Playoff Game on February 20, 1995, to punch its ticket to the conference tournament in a 93-84 win over Muhlenberg.
- The team will be competing in its third straight conference tournament, a program best.
- Johns Hopkins won the top seed over Gettysburg on a coin flip as both went 19-1, both losing to each other, and thus per conference rules had to go to a coin flip to break the tie.  Gettysburg will be the second seed, and Dickinson will be the third seed and host sixth seeded Swarthmore on Tuesday night in the other first round game.
- Pluta's 15 free throws is one off the program mark as Karen Simos '04 made 16 on February 1, 2003 versus F&M.
 
Next up
Tuesday Feb. 20 against Ursinus (Time TBD on Monday). The Shorewomen will host the Bears in the first round of the Centennial Conference playoffs.
- Washington and Ursinus split during the regular season, both winning at home by the same 59-53 score.