The No. 3 Washington and Lee’s women’s basketball team is headed to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament after beating the Christopher Newport Captains 61-55 on Saturday.
The No. 3 Generals hosted the first two rounds. Holekamp Gym was packed with fans cheering for the team.
The team beat St. Mary’s on Friday in a 73-44 win that allowed them to advance and play the Captains the next day.
The Generals will again have a home court advantage in their game against No. 23 Bethel University on March 13.
Mary Schleusner, ’26, who has broken multiple Division III records this year, noted that one of the team’s goals at the start of the season was to host the start of the tournament. She said the team hopes to “survive and advance by taking it one game at a time.”
“Everybody has poured every ounce into the team and each other, and the team loves each other so deeply and loudly on and off the court,” Schleusner said.
As a senior, Schleusner said she hopes to put the team in a position to succeed, as this is the last time she and the other seniors will be playing organized basketball for the rest of their lives.
The team motto this season for the Generals is “mudita,” which Schleusner described as finding curious joy in the success of others. Living by this motto has helped the team grow and succeed this season, she said. Schleusner said she thinks the Generals’ team spirit will help them advance to the final rounds of the NCAA tournament, which will be held at Roanoke College’s Cregger Center.
“The road to Roanoke looks pretty clear,” she said.
But Schleusner and the team’s success started long before the NCAA tournament.
The Generals capped off a perfect regular season on Feb. 21 with a dominant 85-62 win over the Guilford Quakers. After the game against Guilford, the team became the third program in Old Dominion Atlantic Conference (ODAC) history to post an undefeated conference record.
In the Guilford game, Schleusner led the team with 31 points. Quinn McGuinness, ’26, and Riley Bryant, ’27, also reached double figures. It was also Senior Day for seven Generals: Katie Lawson, ’26; Sarah Zimmerman, ’26; Elka Prechel, ’26; Icy Keneah, ’26; McGuinness, Schleusner and student assistant coach Campbell FitzHugh, ’26.
Schleusner has had an impact all over the court this year. At the beginning of the season, D3Hoops.com named Schleusner a preseason first-team all-American. Throughout the season, Schleusner has picked up several consecutive weekly ODAC honors, been selected as a USBWA Division III national player of the week, earned D3Hoops.com team of the week honors, surpassed 2,000 career points and broken the Division III career rebounding and double-doubles records.
In the Generals’ ODAC semifinal win on Feb. 28 versus Shenandoah, Schleusner became the all-time leading scorer in ODAC history while moving up to eighth all-time in Division III history. She also became the first player in program history to record 200 blocks during a career. Schleusner, McGuinness and Zimmerman were named to the ODAC all-conference teams this season, and Head Coach Brittney Kemp was named ODAC coach of the year in her second season with the Generals.
After a 67-56 win on March 1 over Randolph-Macon, the Generals clinched the ODAC championship title and punched a ticket to the NCAA tournament. This is the fourth time the Generals have won the conference championship. They had previously won in 2010, 2023 and 2024. The Generals have made five NCAA championship appearances in 2010, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The farthest they made it was in 2024, falling to the Wartburg Knights 68-58 in the quarterfinal round.
