WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson women's basketball team pushed out to an early lead and pulled away in the middle quarters to secure an 82-69 win over the visiting Geneva College Golden Tornadoes in a home conference matchup Tuesday night at Salvitti Family Gymnasium.
The win improves the Presidents to 8-1 overall with a 6-0 conference mark while the Golden Tornadoes drop to an even 5-5 overall mark and a 2-3 record in Presidents' Athletic Conference play.
Five Presidents hit double figures in the Tuesday action. Senior guard
Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) lead the way with a team-high 18 points and game-high 12 rebounds. With the effort she logged her fourth double-double effort of the season. Dryburgh also added team highs in assists (6) and blocks (3).
With her 18 points in Wednesday's win, Dryburgh reached the 1,000-point plateau for her career. Dryburgh is the 20th player in W&J women's basketball history to reach the 1000-point club and first since Alie Seto reached the milestone in 2021.
Senior guard
Bryn Bezjak (Uniontown, Pa./Albert Gallatin) turned in another strong effort with 15 points on a near perfect shooting line, making six of seven field goal attempts.
Freshman guard
Jordyn Wolfe (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) and junior guard
Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) scored 12 points apiece.
Sophomore center
Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area) logged eight points, added six rebounds and four assists.
Wolfe recorded season-high seven rebounds to back Dryburgh's efforts.
W&J jumped out to a swift 10-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. The Golden Tornadoes scored two back-to-back buckets before a layup from Bezjak and a deep two from sophomore forward Kovalchick extended the Presidents lead to 14-4. A three pointer from Geneva was answered by Wolfe in the next play to set the score at 17-7. Despite a small offensive surge from the Golden Tornadoes, the Presidents led by a 26-19 score after 10 minutes of play.
The Presidents extended their lead back into double digits in the second quarter. Five-straight points from Wolfe stretched the advantage to 43-28 at the 2:35 mark before half. Geneva trimmed the deficit to 10 at halftime, as W&J carried the 43-33 advantage into the break.
W&J stormed out of the locker room in the third quarter. The Presidents used their best offensive output of the game to put the game out of reach. W&J made 9-of-14 field goal attempts including two-of-three three-point attempts. The Presidents also converted all eight free throw attempts during the frame.
Bezjak kicked off the quarter with a score from beyond the arc followed by layups from Dryburgh and Loutsion. Kovalchick made good on a layup followed by a three-pointer from Cherry to set the score at 55-35 in favor of the Presidents. Loutsion made the next two buckets for the Red & Black followed by a layup from Bezjak to further the lead to 61-35.
Eight of W&J's next 10 points were attained from the charity stripe.
Jacey Mullen (New Springfield, Ohio/Springfield Local) and Loutsion both made a pair of free throws while Dryburgh drained all four of her opportunities from the line in the quarter.
A layup by Dryburgh accounted for the final field goal of the quarter gave W&J a commanding 71-43 lead entering the fourth.
At the 5:27 mark of the fourth, Dryburgh sunk the first of two free throws, which marked her 1000th collegiate point. She tacked on another before exiting the game after securing the milestone.
The Presidents remain at home for their next matchup on Sunday, Dec. 15. W&J welcomes Saint Vincent for a 1 p.m. start inside Salvitti Family Gymnasium.
