WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Senior guard
Piper Morningstar (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) scored a career-high 19 points to lead the Washington & Jefferson women's basketball team to a 69-61 victory over visiting Grove City Saturday in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game at Salvitti Family Gym.
The win was the eighth straight overall for the Presidents. W&J closes the regular season with a 20-4 mark overall and a 17-1 record in PAC play. W&J has reached 20 wins in 13 of 18 seasons during head coach
Jina DeRubbo's tenure. Grove City falls to 16-8 overall and 13-5 in PAC games. The Wolverines will be the No. 3 seed in the upcoming PAC Championship Tournament.
Sophomore center
Sarah Berardelli (Ambridge, Pa./North Catholic) and senior guard
Kamryn Lach (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) reached double figures with 11 points and 10 points, respectively. Freshman guard/forward
Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) finished with a team-high eight rebounds. Dryburgh has been the Presidents' leading rebounder in 22 of 24 games this season.
Morningstar and Lach were joined by
Aleena McDaniel (Morgantown, W.Va./Morgantown),
Tori Boalton (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown Area) and
Taylor Brenner (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) as W&J used an all-senior starting lineup on Senior Day.
W&J closed the first quarter with 10 consecutive points to build a 23-11 lead over Grove City. An old-fashioned three-point play by Berardelli jump-started the run. Four more Presidents scored during the spurt, which included a trey by junior forward
Maddi Gutierrez (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) to close the first quarter.
The run spilled over into the second quarter, as Morningstar recorded the first five points of the frame, as W&J stretched its lead to 28-11. The 17-point advantage was the largest of the game. The Wolverines were able to answer with a run of their own and eventually trimmed the deficit to just four points (38-34) at halftime.
The game was back and forth the rest of the way. The Wolverines used back-to-back field goals to even the score at 40-40 just three minutes into the third quarter. A little later, Megan Kallock then gave Grove City its first lead of the second half when she connected on a three-pointer at the 6:25 mark. W&J would close the third quarter on an 8-0 run to regain the lead for good. Dryburgh and Morningstar combined to account for six of the eight points as W&J carried a 56-49 lead into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was the lowest scoring of the game, as the teams combined for just 25 points. W&J lead by at least three points for the entire final 10 minutes. A layup by Berardelli extended the lead to 63-56 with 2:13 to play.
W&J held a significant advantage in free throws attempted (21-10) and free throws made (18-7) in the victory. The Presidents made 7-of-15 from three-point range while the Wolverines connected on six-of-20 long-range attempts. The Presidents held advantages in points off turnovers (17-11) and bench points (32-8) while the Wolverines had the rebounding edge (35-32) and points in the paint (34-26).
Megan Kallock led Grove City with 19 points and Allison Podkul posted 13 points.
W&J has earned the No. 1 seed in next week's PAC Championship Tournament. They will host an opponent to be determined at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the quarterfinal round.
