WASHINGTON, Pa. - The Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team posted a thrilling victory over No. 19 ranked Baldwin Wallace in their season opener at the Hampton Inn by Hilton Women's Basketball Tipoff, 72-67.
 
The first game of the tournament served as the 2024 season opener for each squad, with the Presidents moving to 1-0 following the victory.
 
Guards Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) and Bryn Bezjak (Uniontown, Pa./Albert Gallatin) headed the offensive efforts for the Presidents in their first outing of the season. Loutsion dropped a game-high 19 points, seven of which came in the final four minutes of play. Bezjak tacked on 18 points, scoring 13 in the first half.
 
W&J posted a 42.9 shooting percentage from the field as a team compared to the Yellow Jackets who shot 35.3 percent on shots following the conclusion of the bout.
 
Two-time Presidents' Athletic Conference player of the year, Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin), kicked off the scoring for the 2024-25 season with the games first points on a two-point pull up.
 
Bezjak tacked on four points following the first score of the season to grant an early 6-3 lead in the first quarter. Jaden Wan (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock) drilled two three-point attempts to keep the Presidents on the board in the early-going. Following the Yellow Jackets creating their first lead of the matchup, a post-move layup by Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area) sparked an 8-0 unanswered run by the Presidents to spark their offense and build a 20-15 lead. After a last-minute foul gave Baldwin Wallace two free throw makes, Bezjak stomped down the court to bank a Caitlin Clark-like buzzer-beating triple to close the first quarter.
 
 The Presidents grew their lead to as much as seven points in the second quarter, with a 32-25 lead with five minutes remaining. Methodically chipping away at the W&J lead, the Yellow Jackets managed to reduce the lead to one before the close of the first half, 38-37.
 
Baldwin Wallace opened the second half with determination to hold the lead for a portion of the bout and did just that, building an early three-point lead in the opening minutes of play, 41-38. Through multiple lead changes, managed to flip the script and regain their comfortable lead before the close of the third quarter thanks to triples knocked down by Adalynn Cherry (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) and Loutsion to lift the lead to 57-51.
 
Not going down without a fight, the Yellow Jackets clipped the lead to two with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Loutsion proceeded to head the offense for the remaining minutes of the matchup, scoring seven of the final eight points for W&J. Loutsion logged back-to-back responses to Yellow Jacket scores with driving layups to grant W&J a 72-67 triumph over Baldwin Wallace.
 
While Baldwin Wallace held advantages in second-chance points (13-4) and being out-rebounded (47-40), W&J managed to control the pace of the game through forcing turnovers and outscoring the Yellow Jackets in fastbreak points (14-5).
 
Cherry and Dryburgh each tacked on three steals while Kovalchick led the team in blocks with three. Cherry led the team in assists with four on the night.
 
W&J will now another Ohio Athletic Conference opponent in their second game of the tipoff tournament Saturday (Nov. 9), against Otterbein. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.