Women's Basketball | 11/24/2012 10:46:00 PM

Box Score FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The Methodist women's basketball team limited Virginia Wesleyan to 30.1 percent shooting from the field and out-rebounded the Marlins, 53-36, in posting a 77-68 win in the opening game of the 2012 Methodist Turkey Shootout on Saturday afternoon at the Riddle Center.
 
The Marlins (1-3) made good on just 25-of-83 field goal attempts, including just 3-of-26 from beyond the arc compared to a 51.1 percent mark (23-45) form the floor for the Monarchs as Methodist won its second straight to even its record at 2-2.
 
Virginia Wesleyan raced out to an 8-2 lead just 1:53 into the contest, benefiting from a pair of early Monarch turnovers. The Marlins' lead remained at six points (14-8) before the Monarchs, behind four points apiece form Courtney Woods and Ayanna Pegues, used a 10-4 run to tie the game at 18-18 with 7:46 left in the first half.
 
Just over two minutes later, tied at 24-24, the Monarchs embarked on a game-changing 13-4 scoring run to close out the half and take a 37-28 lead into the locker room.  Brianna Robinson split a pair of free throws to begin the run and T.T. Taylor followed with a five-point play to make it 30-24 in favor of MU. After Pegues grabbed a defensive rebound on the Marlin's ensuing possession, Taylor added another triple and the Monarchs went up 33-24 at the 3:42 mark, eventually taking their nine-point bulge into halftime.
 
In the second period, Methodist saw its lead grow to as much as 19 points, and despite turning the ball over a total of 37 times, the Monarchs were never really threatened as VWC continued to have its difficulties from the field. In addition to the poor shooting from the floor, VWC also made good on just 15-of-28 attempts from the free throw line (.536).
 
Robinson led all scorers with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the floor and 5-of-7 from the line. She also added nine boards. Christina Schrader netted 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, Pegues added career-highs of nine points and 11 rebounds, while Iesha Hayes dished out a game-high six assists to go with five points.
 
Sarah Seipp led three Marlins in double figure scoring with 12 points, but shot just 4-of-17 from the field and 2-of-8 from deep. Nancy Kelly and Brittany Glasco each scored 11 points and Glasco pulled down a team-best nine rebounds. Katie Tassa added six points to go with seven rebounds and her and Seipp each grabbed six of VWC's 25 steals.
 
Methodist will take on Hood on Saturday at 1:00 pm on the final day of the 2012 Turkey Shootout.