Rocky Mount, N.C. - In Wednesday's women's hoops action, it was the Marlins of Virginia Wesleyan College who came out on top of the Battling Bishops, 60-57, in a tightly contested non-conference match-up in Everett Gymnasium. A clutch 3-pointer by NCWC senior Shanice Goree had given N.C. Wesleyan a 55-53 lead with 2:03 remaining, but the Marlins closed out the game with a 7-2 run to steal the victory.

After fighting to a 32-32 tie at the break, the Bishops found themselves up 42-36 just five minutes into the second half thanks to a pair of buckets each from Goree and fellow senior Tiffany Bell. VWC countered with a 13-3 run for a 49-45 advantage at the 10-minute mark, only to see the Bishops net the next five points to go up 50-49 at with 7:32 remaining.

From there, the two teams battled through a trio of lead changes and two ties, the last coming at 55-55 when the Marlins' Brittany Glasco answered Goree's go-ahead trey with a three-point play that put VWC up for good. The Bishops would manage four shots at a game-tying three in the final 30 seconds but came up short.

The statistical lines for each team were nearly identical, with the three-point difference coming at the free throw line. Bell finished with a team-high 17 point for the Bishops. She was joined in double-figures by Goree with 14 and freshman Kenyata Harris with 10. Harris also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

Glasco paced the Marlins (5-2) with 17 points of her own.

Wesleyan (1-3) travels to Guilford College on Saturday for a 2:00pm tip-off with the Quakers.