FINAL SCORE: Virginia State 81, Apprentice School 54

RECORDS: Virginia State 1-2, Apprentice School 1-2

LOCATION: Daniel Gym/Petersburg, Va.

IN BRIEF: The Trojans used a 28-9 opening quarter as they stayed in control for the majority of the game.

ON THE COURT

• Courtney White's 3-pointer opened up the scoring, but Virginia State would answer with a 3-pointer of its own. An Ylexzis Traeger basket gave the Lady Builders a 5-3 lead at 7:40, but that would be the last time the Apprentice would be in control. An 18-0 run by the Trojans ate up just under 5 minutes of clock and gave them a 21-5 advantage. Kelsey Daniels netted a pair of scores, but Virginia State would push its lead to 28-9 to end the opening quarter.
• Neither team could connect early in the 2nd, with a 3-point shot from Virginia State's Philandra Jordan breaking up the drought at the 7:04 mark. The Lady Builders would score 11 points, but couldn't cut into the Trojans' lead. At the half, Virginia State had a comfortable 42-20 lead.
• The Trojans' defense continued to frustrate the Lady Builders as they forced 6 steals and 5 turnovers, holding the Apprentice to another 11-point quarter. Virginia State benefitted from another big run as they scored 15 unanswered and used up 4:52. Kenya Wilkerson, Quanisha Bruce, Traeger, and Jessica Neighbors would all make free throws as the Apprentice School trailed 66-31 heading into the final 10 minutes.
• Wilkerson and Traeger each scored 6 points in the final quarter as the Lady Builders outscored their opponents 23-15. The Apprentice School was 10-of-15 (66.7%) from the charity stripe in the final quarter and matched the Trojans with 9 rebounds. A Julissa Riddick layup and a Traeger free throw capped off an 8-0 with just over 4 minutes to play. Hayley Marshall would make a 3-pointer and Daniels would make both of her free throw attempts to round out the scoring.

BEHIND THE BOXSCORE

• Three Lady Builders paced the team with double-digit scoring. Wilkerson led the way with 14 points, followed by Daniels and Traeger with 10 points each.
• The Apprentice School shot 34.8% (16-of-46) from the field, 20% (2-of-10) from beyond the arc, and 57.1% (20-of-35) from the free-throw line.
• The Lady Builders scored 19 points off of the bench.
• The Lady Builders scored 8 fast-break points, compared to 6 points for the Trojans.
• The game featured only one tie and one lead change.

NEXT UP

The Lady Builders will travel to Salisbury, Md. this weekend as they compete in the Salisbury University Optimist Classic. The team will start off its weekend Friday at 7:30 p.m. against Marywood University (Pa.).