WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- Washington & Jefferson opened up a 15-point lead at halftime en route to a 76-62 win against Hiram at the Smokey Ballenger Classic hosted by Otterbein.
The win pushes the Presidents to 9-1 on the season, continuing the best start since 2008-09. That season, Emily Hays went on to win the Presidents' Athletic Conference Player of the Year award as W&J began the campaign 14-1. Hays is in her first season as the head coach for Hiram after four years as a student-athlete at W&J and four seasons as an assistant coach for the red and black.
With W&J down 10-5 early, a 5-0 run by
Alexa DelGreco tied the game at 10-10 after she connected on a three pointer and layup within 33 seconds. Later, a 9-2 run by the Presidents gave W&J a 19-14 lead at the 8:39 mark after a layup by
Beka Bellhy, who finished with a game-best 24 points.
A three-pointer by the Terriers' Kayla Yost made it a two-point game, 19-17, with 7:53 to play in the first half, but the Presidents scored the next 15 points over five-plus minutes to take a 34-17 lead with 2:12 before the break. During the run, Bellhy scored seven points,
Taylor Cortazzo scored five points and
Danni Medovich hit from beyond-the-arc. Washington & Jefferson held a 37-22 advantage through the game's opening 20 minutes.
By the 13:44 mark of the second half, Hiram had the game within five points at 46-41, but nine-straight points from W&J pushed the margin back to double figures at 14 points, 55-41. Bellhy accounted for seven of the nine points during the spurt.
The Terriers (4-7) cut the margin to single digits just once after that on a layup with 8:51 remaining that made it 57-48, but W&J carried on for the victory.
Bellhy had a balanced effort of 13 points in the second half following her 11-point performance in the first period. Seven of her team-best nine boards came in the second half. Cortazzo also pulled down seven of her eight rebounds in the second half, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. Medovich broke into double digits at 10 points.
Valerie Dunlap registered eight points and four rebounds with seven blocks, one shy of her career-best of eight set on Jan. 9, 2013 at Grove City, despite playing just 22 minutes.
With the victory, the Presidents close the non-conference portion of the 2014-15 season with a 6-1 mark. W&J hosts Waynesburg on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 1 p.m. in PAC action.
