Sophomore Catherine Goodwin goes up for a contested shot against a Lyon defender. (Rachel Benitez-Borrego | Contributing Photographer)

Going into the fourth quarter, the No. 11 WashU women’s basketball team had all but secured a victory over Lyon College. The Bears led by 50 points through three frames and could have cruised to a dominant victory. But WashU didn’t slow down. 

With 47 seconds left in the game, first-year guard Ava Blagojevich converted a layup to score the Bears’ 115th point of the game and set a program record for points scored by WashU in a single game. The previous record stood for over 25 years, set in a 114-47 win against Beloit College in 1999. 

The Bears did not score more than 95 points in a game throughout all of last season, but so far this season, they’ve eclipsed that mark twice. WashU has not trailed for one second in the young season. 

“It feels great,” head coach Lisa Stone said. “The fact that we did it with our main starters on bench for pretty much the whole game is exciting, and we put up some huge numbers.” 

The Bears beat Lyon 119-49 on Nov. 22, also setting the program record for field goals made and assists in the victory. WashU won the McWilliams Classic, their annual home tournament, the following night, defeating Wisconsin Lutheran College 66-47. Graduate-student guard Jessica Brooks was named tournament MVP. 

WashU vs. Lyon

In their first home game of the season, it didn’t take the Bears long to jump out to an early lead. Sophomore center Lexy Harris scored the first bucket nine seconds into the game, then scored 10 of the Bears’ next 16 points as they took an 18-2 lead in the first six minutes. The Bears continued to assert their dominance through scoring outbursts, taking a 24-9 lead over Lyon to end the first quarter and a 56-19 lead into halftime.

“It sets the tone,” Stone said about the early lead. “We want to establish ourselves on both ends of the floor. We want to go inside right away, which we did. Lexy went nuts early.”

The Bears’ rebounding dominance was the story of the first half. Brooks had 12 first-half rebounds — more than the entire Lyon team — and Harris tallied 10 as the Bears out-rebounded the Scots 33-11 in the opening 20 minutes. 

The Bears also did a strong job minimizing mistakes against a Lyon team that utilized a full-court press. WashU turned the ball over just 12 times in the game and scored 35 points on fast breaks.

“When you play a team like this that presses the whole game, maybe there’s gonna be a number of turnovers,” Stone said. “We kept our turnovers rolling, and we only had 12 turnovers. So that’s big against this kind of team.”

Coming out of halftime, the Bears kept up their energy, going on a 12-3 run after the break. By the end of the third quarter, the Bears had extended their lead to 82-30. In addition, the Bears’ defense was sweltering throughout the game, limiting the Scots  — who entered the game averaging 88.3 points per game through four matchups — to just 49 total points.

The fourth quarter was the highest-scoring period of the contest, with WashU outscoring Lyon 37-19 en route to a 119-49 victory. The whole Bears depth chart was able to get game experience, with 15 players seeing the court. Harris finished with a team-high 23 points, and four other players — Brooks, sophomore Sidney Rogers, junior Nailah McBeth, and first-year Hope Drake — all ended with double-digit point totals.

WashU vs. Wisconsin Lutheran

The Bears continued their momentum into Saturday night’s game against Wisconsin Lutheran. WashU started quickly for the second-straight game, scoring 13 unanswered points in the first quarter. At halftime, WashU led 38-18. Brooks, Harris, and junior forward Jordan Rich dominated the scoresheet, a sign of the Bears’ strength at the top of their rotation. 

“We all came to play today. Jordan shot the ball well, Lexy is always a dominant force, [and] we just shared the ball really well today,” Brooks said. “We came off a huge win last night, so we used that momentum to get going today.”

Unlike their win against Lyon, the Wisconsin Lutheran defense held WashU to just 28 points in the second half. While the Bears’ offense was more limited than their previous two games, WashU’s resilience on defense and rebounding — which has been a focus of Stone’s tenure so far — kept the Warriors’ offense in check. 

“We’re more disciplined in rebounding and defensively making sure we’re getting stops, and making sure we’re in the exact spots we need to be,” Brooks said.

The WashU defense held strong en route to a 66-47 victory in the McWilliams Classic championship. Brooks was named MVP of the tournament, with 21 points and eight rebounds against Wisconsin Lutheran. Harris contributed a second double-double, and Rich and sophomore guard Alyssa Hughes both shot three-for-five from three-point range. 

“I think we played a really good team game,” Brooks said. “It was a fun team win and exciting for Coach Stone to get her first McWilliams win.”

The Bears will host the Midwest Challenge tournament next weekend, giving WashU another opportunity to face strong non-conference opponents early in the season. On Nov. 30, WashU will face the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. They will then play either DePauw University or No. 8 Illinois Wesleyan University on Dec. 1. 

“We have a really big test next week,” Stone said. “Some of the best challenges are tournaments because they get us ready for conference play, and we will certainly keep our edge.”