WASHINGTON, Pa. – Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area) fired in a game-high 20 points to help the top-seeded Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team to a 70-55 win over fourth-seeded Grove City to secure its spot in the 2025 PAC Women's Basketball Championship game.
 
Joining Kovalchick in double figures were Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) and Riley DeRubbo (Washington, Pa./Trinity), who finished with 18 points and 13 points, respectively. Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) contributed seven points, a game-high 14 rebounds and a game-high three blocks.
 
The victory improves W&J to 22-4 overall. The loss ends Grove City's season at 16-11 overall.

Both teams came out firing in the semifinal matchup Thursday evening. The Presidents and Wolverines both shot better than 45 percent from the field in the first half of play.
 
Adalynn Cherry (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) opened the scoring by draining a three-point field goal on the Presidents' opening possession. The two teams exchanged scores over the next two-plus minutes. Grove City used back-to-back layups from Meredith Sherrerd to take a 7-5 lead at the 7:48 mark. The Presidents countered with six-straight points including a pair of field goals by Kovalchick that pushed W&J back in front at 11-7. A three-point field goal by Dryburgh stretched the W&J advantage to 19-15 with 3:53 left in the first. W&J closed out the first half with a three-point field goal by Kovalchick. That shot extended the W&J lead to 24-17 after the opening 10 minutes.
 
The Presidents used strong contributions from its bench to add to its lead in the early stages of the second quarter. Jacey Mullen (New Springfield, Ohio/Springfield Local) converted a layup off a nifty pass from Raegan Kadlecik (McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour) then DeRubbo drained a three-point field goal to extend the lead into double digits at 31-19. W&J continued to hold a double-digit lead for nearly five minutes before five-straight points allowed Grove City to trim the deficit to seven at the 1:08 mark. Kovalchick beat the first half buzzer with a fade away shot from the right baseline to give W&J a 43-34 lead at halftime.
 
Near the midway point of the third quarter, Loutsion and Kovalchick made consecutive triples for W&J to keep Grove City at bay. The Wolverines used a pair of three pointers by Alexis Hudson to trim the deficit to six points. However, DeRubbo countered with a made three-pointer of her own to allow W&J to take a 60-51 lead into the fourth.

The Presidents were able to close the game out in the fourth quarter with a strong defensive finish. W&J limited Grove City to just one field goal over the final 10 minutes. The Wolverines were 1-of-15 during the final quarter.
 
Mara Polczynski capped a strong season and career with the Wolverines. The senior finished with team highs in points (10), rebounds (10) and assists (5).
 
With her 14 rebounds in the win Thursday, Dryburgh cemented herself atop another category in the W&J record books. Dryburgh now stands alone atop the single season rebound record with 323. She eclipses the previous single-season high of 318 set by Heather Dawkins in 1993-94.
 
The Presidents will face off with third-seeded Chatham University in Saturday's title game at Salvitti Family Gymnasium in Washington. The two teams will tip off at 4:30 p.m.
 
W&J will enter Saturday in search of its seventh Presidents' Athletic Conference title and its first since 2021-22. This will mark the Presidents' sixth title game appearance in the past eight seasons. The Cougars claimed their first PAC title a season ago.