BETHANY, W.Va. -- Four players scored in double figures as the Washington & Jefferson women's basketball team put together a strong second half to collect a 78-58 road win Saturday over Bethany College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game.
The win is the eighth-straight for the Presidents. W&J improves to 13-1 in the conference and 17-2 overall. The loss drops the Bison to 7-8 in the PAC and 9-11 overall.
Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) paced all players with 18 points.
Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) tallied 15 points which included a pair of three-point makes.
Hannah Archer (Lowell, Ohio/Fort Frye) poured in 14 points after making 4-of-6 three-point attempts.
Adalynn Cherry (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Sarah Berardelli (Ambridge, Pa./North Catholic) was the game's leading rebounder with 10.
The two teams battled through a back-and-forth first quarter. The host Bison jumped out to an early 5-2 after scoring on their first two possessions of the contest. The Presidents quickly responded with eight-straight points to take their first lead of the game. Consecutive three-point plays by Loutsion made it a 10-5 W&J advantage at the 6:09 mark. Bethany countered back with eight of the next 10 points to take a 13-12 lead on a three-pointer by Alyssa Serensky. A pair of layups by Dryburgh put W&J in front by three points but the Bison tallied the final four points of the quarter to take a 17-16 advantage after 10 minutes.
The Bison started strong in the second quarter, using some strong outside shooting to stretch its lead to as many as six points. A triple by Taylor Dusenberry put the score at 27-21 in favor of Bethany midway through the quarter. Dryburgh carried the Presidents for the remainder of the quarter. The junior tallied 10 of the final 13 points for W&J in the first half.
W&J scored eight points over the final 1:29 of the half to surge into the lead. Consecutive three-pointers by Archer and Dryburgh gave W&J a three-point edge. Dryburgh tacked on a layup off a pass from Archer just before the first half horn. That late score put W&J up 34-29 at the break. Dryburgh netted 16 points in the first half while Loutsion contributed nine.
The Presidents used a quick spurt out of the locker room to extend their lead. The Red and Black scored six of the first eight second half points to build a 40-31 advantage, forcing Bethany to use a timeout at the 6:37 mark after a driving layup by Loutsion. Less than a minute later, a three-pointer by
Jaden Wan (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock) and a putback by Berardelli made it 47-36 at the 4:32 mark.
W&J extended its lead to 53-36 when
Kiyanna Dowling (York, Pa./York Suburban) finished a driving left-handed layup with 2:35 to play in the third. The 17-point advantage was the largest for the Presidents to that point. However, the Bison scored the final eight points of the quarter to trim the Presidents' lead back into single digits at 53-44.
W&J pulled away in the fourth with a strong showing. The Presidents racked up 25 points in the final 10 minutes. W&J made 10-of-14 field goals (71.4 percent) including 5-of-9 makes from three in the fourth. Archer had 11 points in the final quarter to spark a strong finish for the offense. A triple by Archer gave W&J's its biggest lead of the game at 71-47 with 5:41 to play.
The Presidents shot 56 percent (19-of-34) in the second half and 50 percent (6-of-12) in the second half from three. W&J also out-rebounded Bethany by a 40-30 margin.
W&J heads to Steubenville, Ohio on Wednesday, Jan. 31 for a matchup with Franciscan University of Steubenville. Start time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
