BEREA, Ohio (March 7, 2025) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy women's basketball team saw its magical season come to an end on Friday with a 65-53 loss to #19 Washington and Lee in the NCAA Championship First Round played at Baldwin Wallace University's Ursprung Gymnasium. The Mariners close out the year with a 24-3 overall record, while the Generals improve to 25-4 and advance to the Second Round on Saturday where they will face the winner of tonight's La Roche-BWU game.
 
Game Link

• Box Score

Sophomore Emily Grasseler (Millbrook, N.Y.) led all players in the game with 20 points, while freshman Breanna Sommers (Casa Grande, Ariz.) added 14 points and senior Grace Jackson (Parma, Idaho) closed out her career with 10. Junior Hannah Ramsden (Port Aransas, Texas) recorded a team-best nine rebounds and freshman Carolae Barton (Waldorf, Md.) contributed five points and seven rebounds despite being limited to just 16 minutes due to foul trouble.
 
The Generals were led by junior Mary Schleusner, who scored 14 points and brought down a game-high 16 rebounds to go along with four blocks, three assists and two steals. Two other players had double-digit scoring performances for W&L, as junior Quinn McGuinness drained 13 points and classmate Sarah Zimmerman chipped in with 12.
 
Washington and Lee held a 23-6 advantage in points off of turnovers, while the Generals' bench outscored the Mariners' bench, 16-2, and W&L produced 15 second chance points to USMMA's seven. Merchant Marine held a slight edge in rebounds, 45-43.
 
After a very close first quarter with four lead changes and neither team holding an advantage of more than four points, it was a 12-2 run by W&L in the second quarter that gave the Generals command of the game.
 
The Mariners were able to cut their deficit down to nine, 30-21, at 4:10 of the second quarter, but unfortunately that would be the closest they could get the remainder of the game.
 
USMMA's 24-3 record in the 2024-25 season tied the academy's best mark from 2022-23. The Mariners set a new program record winning streak of 23-straight victories from Nov. 20-Feb. 27. This was also the fifth 20-win season for Merchant Marine, all coming in the past six full seasons dating back to 2018-19.
 
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