WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) registered her 13th double-double of the season to lead the Washington & Jefferson women's basketball team to a 59-42 win over Thiel College Monday evening in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game at Salvitti Family Gymnasium.

The win improves W&J to 20-2 overall and 16-1 in conference play. The Presidents have won 20 games or more 14 times during head coach Jina DeRubbo's 19-year tenure with the Red and Black. The win is career victory No. 499 for DeRubbo. 

The first quarter between these two units was back and fourth but contained an unusual slow start for the Presidents as the Tomcats raced out to an early 5-0 lead within the first minute of play. Deeper into the first quarter of play, the Presidents were finally able to regain the lead off of some disruptive full-court pressure coming from Dryburgh and explosive offense created by Byrn Bezjak (Uniontown, Pa. / Albert Gallatin) draining two slightly contested threes from beyond the arc. A three-pointer by Skylar Bibbee (Fairfax, Va./Chantilly) on W&J's final possession of the quarter gave the Presidents a 18-15 lead after 10 minutes. 

A pair of steals and layups by Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa. / Canon-McMillan) helped W&J extend its lead to 22-15 just minutes into the second quarter. W&J continued to lead the rest of the quarter before a layup by Sarah Berardelli (Ambridge, Pa./North Catholic) made it 30-26 at halftime. 

The Presidents put the game away early in the third quarter with a 13-2 run that spanned nearly eight minutes. Loutsion continued to wreak havoc on the Tomcats side of the court as she added two more steals to her totals that would led to some hard earned fast break points. Bezjak also remained hot as she would score five of the Presidents lead building quarter as she was backed by Dryburgh who contributed four points from the paint. Bibbee tacked on another three late in the third as W&J carried a 46-36 lead into the fourth. 

Dryburgh helped W&J put away the game early in the fourth, as she knocked down three-point field goals on consecutive possessions. The second triple stretched the lead to 53-40 with 8:13 to play. The lead reached 18 points when Alyssa Pollice (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bishop Canevin) made a layup with 1:46 remaining. 

Dryburgh finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, six steals, three assists and three blocks in the victory on her way to her 13th double-double of the season.

Bezjak put in another good day of scoring in for the Presidents, as she posted 12 points in the win. Loutsion contributed eight points with a season-high six steals. Berardelli put in another 10-rebound night making that the second straight game of double-digit rebounds.

W&J won despite losing the rebounding battle 47-40, but combated the lack of boards with holding large advantages in points off of turnovers (34-4), fast break points (15-4), and points in the paint (20-3).

W&J returns to action Saturday, Feb. 11 when they travel to Waynesburg University to take on the Yellow Jackets. Tip-off is schedule for 1 p.m. at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.