Men’s basketball tops Wesley in OT, Comden scores 1,000th point as women blow out Seahawks

By MIKEY BARNES

On February 20, both University of Mary Washington men’s and women’s basketball programs came away victors in the quarterfinal round games of the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament. The victories for the two programs came in very different fashions.

The UMW women opened up the first game of the double header, as they took on St. Mary’s College of Maryland, who came into the game with a record of 8-17. The game opened up in a very evenly matched fashion as the 21-4 Eagles led after the first quarter 13-10. Six of the Eagles’ 13 points came from the hands of junior Breezi Comden, who entered the game just 20 points shy of her career 1,000th. UMW opened up in the second quarter as they scored 21 points to St. Mary’s eight to give them a 34-18 lead.

The Eagles and Comden came out of halftime hot as she connected on two quick layups within the first minutes and following a Seagulls basket, she knocked down two free throws to make her the 18th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. A couple more buckets helped UMW expand the lead to 30 points. The two teams went into the final quarter with UMW up 59-31.

The dominance of Comden and the Eagles continued into the fourth quarter as they finished out the game with a 30-point victory, their lead getting as high as 33 points. The 22nd ranked Eagles won the game 78-48, with Comden scoring a game high 28 points. Sophomore Kendall Parker finished with 18 points, including going 5-6 from behind the three point line. UMW will be back in action on Thursday against Christopher Newport University in Newport News for the semifinal match.

The UMW men’s basketball program did not have as easy of a time with their opponent, Wesley College. Wesley opened the game with a noticeably marginal lead, until baskets from juniors Brent Mahoney and T.J. Jones brought them back into it.

A late three-pointer in the first half from Jones gave the Eagles a three point lead against the Wolverines from Wesley going into the half, 34-31. The Eagles came out of the gate hot in the second half as they found themselves at an eight point lead, before the Wolverines found themselves back in it.

The game was in a very back-and-forth fashion, with clutch free throws coming from Jones and freshman Mark Madison. Down 77-74, junior John Lutkenhaus hit a three-pointer to tie the game up with seven seconds left to send it to overtime. A big time four-point play by Madison opened up the overtime for the Eagles on a positive note.

Lutkenhaus came up big again to help the Eagles regain the lead. Successful free throws by sophomore Eric Shaw and junior Haden Thompson secured the lead and the victory for UMW. The Eagles improved to 15-11 on the season and will take on Salisbury University on Thursday Feb. 25 in the semifinals.

This is the second year in a row under men’s coach Marcus Kahn and women’s coach Deena Applebury that both teams have advanced past the first round.