LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall women's basketball team (13-7, 4-5 CC) was defeated by Washington College (12-6, 5-3 CC), 61-48, in Wednesday evening's Centennial Conference contest at the Mayser Center.

A cold shooting stretch to start the game put the Diplomats in a hole early as Washington College jumped out to a 14-4 lead. Mackenzie Ward splashed a three-pointer at the 2:26 mark to cut the deficit in half before the Shorewomen made a layup on the other end to push their lead to 16-7. After Ally Trebelev and Lauren Rusas both went 1-for-2 at the free throw line, Washington College connected on a jumper in the closing seconds to give the visitors an 18-9 advantage through one quarter of play.

F&M began the second quarter rolling on offense with an 8-1 run. Kennedy Wilburn made a jumper to start the quarter, but a free throw from the Shorewomen gave Washington College a 19-11 lead just two minutes into the frame. From that point, Wilburn connected on another jumper, followed by layups from Lizzie Neville and Trebelev to reduce the deficit to two. Washington College responded with a layup, but that was matched by a jumper from Trebelev at the 5:46 mark to make the score 21-19. From that point, the visitors closed the quarter by scoring six-unanswered points to take a 27-19 lead into the halftime intermission.

Franklin & Marshall began the second half with Trebelev and Rusas both converting layups to reduce Washington College's lead to 29-23 with 7:39 remaining in the period. The Shorewomen scored the next six points of the contest, but F&M answered with a layup from Wilburn and two free throws from Neville to get the Diplomats within nine. A jumper from Steph Sexton got F&M within seven with under two minutes to play in the quarter. After the visitors made a layup, Quinn Galligan answered with a pair of free throws to keep the deficit at seven. However, a layup from the Shorewomen at the buzzer sent Washington College into the fourth quarter with a 40-31 lead.

Washington College made a layup to start the final frame, but F&M began a 7-0 run to get within five. Wilburn and Rusas made jumpers on back-to-back possessions to get the Diplomats within seven. A big three-pointer from Galligan reduced Washington College's lead to 42-38 with 7:55 remaining in regulation. Despite the late charge, the five-point deficit was the closest F&M came to tying the game as Washington College held off the Diplomats late.

Neville led F&M in scoring with 11 points, while also notching five rebounds, two blocks and one steal. Trebelev followed with 10 points and four rebounds in the contest. Wilburn ended her night with eight points, eight rebounds and three steals in the game.

Franklin & Marshall now turns its attention to a road game against McDaniel on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.