VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Despite a dismal first half, the Bridgewater Eagles women's basketball team got to within single digits in the final minutes of the game, but couldn't get over the top as the Eagles fell by a 71-61 score on the road at Virginia Wesleyan.

Bridgewater (2-3, 1-2 ODAC) never led in the game.

Virginia Wesleyan (3-1, 2-0 ODAC) jumped out to an early 12-4 lead as the Eagles shooting woes from Monday night continued in the games early minutes forcing a Bridgewater timeout.

Out of the Bridgewater timeout, the Marlins extended their lead to 14-4, before a Berlyn Seitz jumper cut the Virginia Wesleyan lead back to single digits at an eight-point gap.

Following the Seitz score, turnover woes allowed the Marlins to push their lead to 22-6 with 11 and change to play in the first half as the Eagles committed turnovers on six of seven possessions which allowed Virginia Wesleyan to push its lead to a game-high 16 points.

Bridgewater endured an eight-and-a-half minute scoreless drought before Jenny Logan knocked down the back end of a pair of free throws to bring the game to a 25-7 score with six and change to play in the first half. Both teams remained scoreless from the field for a nearly eight minute stretch of the half.

In spite of their rough start from the field, the Eagles defense held the Marlins to a 28% shooting performance in the first half to trail by a manageable 32-15 margin as the game headed to the intermission.

During the opening half, Bridgewater was held scoreless from the field for 11 minutes and shot at a frigid 22% clip and committed 15 turnovers during the game's first 20 minutes.

Out of the intermission, the Eagles used a full-court-press defense to fluster the Marlins before climbing back into the contest at a 37-25 margin with under 17 minutes remaining off of a Shannan Thorne free throw.

Virginia Wesleyan pushed the lead to a 47-29 margin with 13 and change to play before a Katelynn Hottinger jumper in the paint opened up an 11-4 Bridgewater run which got the Eagles to within 11 at a 51-40 margin with 10:31 to play.

The two teams traded free throws to keep the deficit at 11 before a Holly Morgan trey and a Thorne jumper brought the Eagles to within six at a 53-47 tally forcing a Virginia Wesleyan timeout with 7:24 left.

Following the Marlins timeout, both teams traded scores over the next four minutes with the Eagles drawing to within four at a 58-54 tally with 3:49 to play off of a Thorne jumper.

After the Thorne bucket, the Marlins went on a 5-0 spurt to push their lead to a 63-54 tally with 2:35 to play.

In the game's waning minutes, the teams exchanged scores, but the Marlins converted a number of key free throws down the stretch to claim a 71-61 victory over the Eagles.

After a tough shooting first half, the Eagles shot at a blistering 53% clip in the second half to outshoot the Marlins on the evening by a 39%-to-36% clip.

On the offensive end, junior Jessica Mullen paced the way with a team-high 15 points, while Thorne chipped in 13 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

On the glass, Thorne and fellow freshman Kelsey Taylor paced the way with eight boards each as the Eagles were outrebounded by a slim 42-to-40 margin.

Virginia Wesleyan was led on the evening by Jocelyn Spencer's 16-point effort. Spencer led a trio of Marlins in double figures.

Kristen Blalock and Shawnee Lewis paced the Marlins on the boards with eight rebounds apiece.

Bridgewater committed eight turnovers in the second half to end the game with 23 miscues, while forcing 21 Virginia Wesleyan mistakes.

The Eagles are back in action on Saturday when they host Randolph. Action against the WildCats is set for a 2:00 p.m. start.