Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Washington & Jefferson College Athletics

Official athletic website of the Washington & Jefferson Presidents
Brett Rubin-Goldstein
Martin Santek Photography

Men's Basketball

Presidents Host Golden Tornadoes In Regular-Season Home Finale

WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Washington & Jefferson College wraps up the home portion of its 2013-14 basketball schedule Wednesday night when hosting the Golden Tornadoes of Geneva College at the Henry Memorial Center. 

The women's game tips off the doubleheader at 6:00 pm, while the men will square off 25 minutes following the conclusion of the opener.  Both games will feature live stats and live video.  Prior to the start of the men's contest, W&J will honor its lone senior, guard Brett Rubin-Goldstein, who will make his 73rd appearance in a Presidents' uniform. 

The Presidents' women (16-7, 11-5 PAC) can clinch the No. 3 seed for next week's PAC Tournament and a Tuesday home quarterfinal game with two wins this week.  With a 2-0 week, W&J will play either Bethany or Grove City Tuesday at the Henry Memorial Center (6pm or 7pm). 

The Presidents and Golden Tornadoes (4-18, 3-13 PAC) will meet for the 14th time in history with W&J leading the series by a 10-3 margin.  Washington & Jefferson has won six-straight games in the series and hasn't lost to Geneva at the Henry Memorial Center since a 64-60 setback on Jan. 30, 2008.  

In the first meeting this season between the two teams, the Presidents scored a season-high 91 points on 45 percent shooting.  Chelsea Apke led four Presidents in double figures with 18 points.  Eleven different Presidents scored and five players made a three-pointer.  W&J took advantage of 18 GC turnovers to score 27 points. 

Geneva started the season with eight consecutive losses, but the Golden Tornadoes have played better of late with a 3-3 record since Jan. 29.  GC has earned victories at Bethany (59-58) and home triumphs over Chatham (76-69) and Grove City (51-43).  In Saturday's win over the Wolverines, Heidi Mann was the only Golden Tornado to score in double figures, but she scored 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and posted three steals while playing all 40 minutes.  Grove City shot just 34 percent and missed all eight of its three-point attempts. 

W&J breezed past Chatham 86-39 Saturday in Washington.  The Presidents, who defeated Chatham for the 22nd consecutive time, had 11 different players score and Kara Seamon dished out a career-high 10 assists. 

Seamon will suit up in the Red & Black uniform for the 106th time in history Wednesday night.  If W&J advances to the PAC semifinals, she will move into fifth place in school history for career games played.  A postseason tournament appearance (NCAA or ECAC) could push Seamon past current assistant coach Emily Hays (111) for fourth place. Seamon has upped her career assist total to 312 and she is now on the heels of Ann Aigner '90 (341) for fifth place in the W&J record book. 

Valerie Dunlap blocked two shots versus Chatham and now sits two away from owning W&J's all-time record.  She may pass W&J Hall of Famer Leigh Sulkowski '06 (133 blocks) on Wednesday for the school record. Dunlap averages 12.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. 

Geneva (4-19, 0-14 PAC) enters the men's game riding a 15-game losing streak.  The Golden Tornadoes' last victory came on Dec. 9 against Penn State-Altoona (73-68) in Beaver Falls.  Geneva has not won a road conference game since defeating Waynesburg 70-58 on Jan. 28, 2012. 

W&J and Geneva are meeting for the 70th time overall.  The Presidents nudged ahead in the all-time series (35-34) by recording an 80-68 triumph in Beaver Falls last month.  Tyler Haas had 24 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win for the Presidents, while Jordan Harbison (5-17 three-pointers) paced Geneva with 21 points. 

Washington & Jefferson has won two-straight games over the Golden Tornadoes at the Henry Memorial Center and is looking for its first season sweep of GC since the 2008-09 season.  

The last week of the regular season will decide the seeding for the PAC men's tournament which begins Monday with the 8-9 game.  Waynesburg has the inside track for the No. 4 seed which provides the final home game for Tuesday's quarterfinals.  If the Yellow Jackets beat Saint Vincent at home Wednesday, they will host a quarterfinal contest (most likely versus W&J).  A Bearcat victory would give W&J a chance to earn the No. 4 seed (and host Waynesburg Tuesday) by defeating both Geneva and Bethany this week.  Bethany plays at Thomas More Wednesday, while Saint Vincent travels to TMC Saturday.  The top three seeds will be determined by those games.  Thomas More can clinch the No. 1 seed with wins in both games.

W&J is hoping to ride the momentum earned last Wednesday when defeating Grove City 74-68 in double overtime.  Doug Johnson was the hero for the Presidents with a career-high 28 points and seven three-point field goals.  Johnson forced overtime with a three-pointer that capped a five-point turnaround in the final 10 seconds and then another in the first overtime which counted as a four-point play after his ensuing free throw. 

Nate Bellhy enters this week ranked 40th among NCAA Division III players with 6.87 defensive rebounds per game.  he is shooting 77 percent (117-152) from the free throw line this year and has helped the Presidents rank 28th nationally with 430 made foul shots this winter.  Concordia (Texas) leads all Division III men's basketball programs with 509 made free throws this year. 

W&J ends the regular season on the road Saturday when making the short trip to West Virginia to battle the Bethany Bison (2pm - women; 4pm - men). 
Print Friendly Version