The Washington and Lee women’s basketball team’s season is over after the team won a program-best 31 straight games.
The Generals lost to Denison University 77-64 on March 14, ending their win streak and their season in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III championship.
First-year guard Sam Collins, ’29, said this season was the best she could have asked for.
“I think this is the best basketball I’ve ever been a part of, like the playing itself and the high level of competition, but also just the love the team shares for each other,” she said
The team made its second Elite Eight appearance in the last three years. Senior forward and team captain Mary Schleusner, ’26, also had an exceptional individual season.
Schleusner set the DIII women’s career rebounds record with 1,992 and the double-doubles record with 97. She was also named a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association all-star. She joins Hanna Malik, ’24, and Erin Hughes, ’21, as the only Generals named a WBCA All-Star.
Schleusner is one of six players, along with student assistant coach Campbell FitzHugh, ’26, graduating in May.
Junior guard Zou Raine, ’27, said the seniors are some of her best friends and that it will take adjustments to fill their roles next year.
“I think they brought such an energy and closeness to the team that it’ll be hard to kind of get that back,” she said.
Collins said that the seven seniors glued the team together and helped build an excellent culture.
“It’s going to be a big loss, obviously, on the court and even in the locker room,” she said. “Just the mix of personalities that we have — they are half the team, and they are our heart and soul, so we’re definitely going to miss them.”
The six senior players averaged 48.7 points per game of the team’s 73.4 total points per game this season. Collins said that much of the production ran through the seniors and that next year will require big adjustments.
“We’re definitely going to have to rework a few things with the pieces that we have,” she said. “But we have a lot of really strong players, and the freshmen coming in are super strong. So I’m not concerned at all about the drop-off.”
The team has five rising seniors for the upcoming season, including Raine. She said they will all have to step up as leaders next year for the younger players.
“We’re kind of taking a whole new role next year. I’m so excited to be able to take on a big role of leading them into their first college years,” Raine said.
She said repeating success next season will be a challenge, but experiences from this season and years past will help.
“I think the biggest thing is that we’ve seen it, we know what we are capable of,” Raine said. “We still have nine players returning next season that have made such a big impact on this team … I think that’s definitely going to help with the confidence going into next season.”
Collins said she is excited to get back out and play next year.
“We already miss being in the gym with each other,” she said. “So just being around each other, being around the team, all of our away trips — everything like that is definitely something to look forward to.”
