BETHANY, W.Va. – The Washington & Jefferson women's basketball team used a stifling defensive effort to earn a 59-48 road Presidents' Athletic Conference victory at Bethany on Wednesday night, Jan. 10.
 
The win improves the Presidents' overall record to 13-1 with a 7-0 mark in PAC games and extends their winning streak to five games while the Bison fall to 6-8 overall and 3-4 in conference.
 
After both teams split the first four points of the game, the Presidents used a 15-6 run to build a strong 19-8 lead. The Bison responded with a 12-7 spurt to close the first half to cut the W&J lead down to 26-21.
 
At the start of the third quarter, Bethany continued its strong play by scoring 10 of the first 12 points to complete an overall 22-9 run to gain its first lead of the game, 31-30, with 5:09 remaining in the frame. The Presidents responded with an immediate 10-2 run of their own to regain the lead, 41-33, before extending their lead to 10 points by the end of the third.
 
The fourth quarter saw 27 points scored between the two teams with W&J edging out Bethany, 14-13, to yield the final margin.
 
Amirah Moore (Moon Twp, Pa./Moon) led the way with a game-high 16 points, her fifth double-digit scoring effort in the last six games. She connected on 5-of-10 shot attempts from the field and also made six of her seven free throw attempts. Moore added four rebounds, four assists and five steals on the night while her 16 points pushed her passed 900 points in her career (915).
 
Mia Woytovich (Charleroi, Pa./Charleroi) contributed eight points while Mya Gordon (Washington, Pa./Washington), Danielle Parker (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan), Lauren Gilbert (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and Taley Dunaway (Latrobe, Pa./Greater Latrobe) all scored six points apiece to round out a balanced scoring effort from the Presidents.
 
W&J limited Bethany to 33.3 percent shooting (13-39) for the game and forced the Bison into 28 turnovers, one off the Presidents' season high of 29 against Westminster on Dec. 2, and outscored Bethany 20-18 in points off turnovers and 28-16 in points in the paint.
 
The Presidents will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 13, when they host No. 5 Thomas More in PAC action at 2:00 p.m. in Henry Gym.