WASHINGTON, Pa. – A dominant second half performance powered the Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team (9-4, 4-0 PAC) in a lopsided 94-66 victory over visiting Geneva College (3-10, 0-4 PAC) Saturday afternoon in Presidents' Athletic Conference play at the Salvitti Family Gymnasium.

Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) and Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area) matched the game high in scoring with 21 points apiece. Riley DeRubbo (Washington, Pa./Trinity) filled the stat sheet with 17 points and added a personal best nine assists. Jacey Mullen (New Springfield, Ohio/Springfield Local) recorded her first collegiate double-double effort with 10 points and 10 rebounds to go along with six assists and three blocks.

The Golden Tornadoes used a quick start to build an early 8-3 lead over the first two-plus minutes of the game. The Presidents settled down and found some rhythm offensively. A three-point play by Kovalchick coupled with a layup by Raegan Kadlecik (McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour), trimmed the deficit to 10-8. Following a Geneva score, four-straight free throws including a pair by Mullen evened the score at 12-12 with 4:22 to play in the opening quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by DeRubbo and Loutsion were part of an 8-0 run which helped W&J build its first lead at 20-14. A late triple by DeRubbo made it 25-24 in favor of the Presidents after a quarter of play.

Geneva opened the second quarter with a 9-2 run to regain the lead and force a W&J timeout with the GT's leading 33-27. The Presidents responded with an 8-1 run to regain the lead following a pair of free throws by Jacey Mullen (New Springfield, Ohio/Springfield Local) at the 4:28 mark. Both teams went cold over the final few minutes of the first half. A jumper by Mullen and a free throw by Wan gave W&J a narrow 38-37 lead at halftime.

The Presidents came out strong in the early stages of the second half and never looked back as they completely took over the game. W&J outscored Geneva by a 56-29 score over the final 20 minutes. The Red and Black shot better than 60 percent clip in the third and fourth quarters.

Sparked by a three-point field goal by Marina Grado (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway), the Presidents ripped off 10-straight points to stretch their lead to 62-47 with 2:51 remaining in the third quarter. Loutsion converted a layup in the remaining few minutes of the quarter as the Presidents led 68-54 heading to the fourth quarter.  
Mullen accounted for four-straight points, which allowed the Presidents to extend the lead to 76-58 at the 7:40 mark. A few minutes later, Loutsion converted back-to-back layups to swell the W&J advantage to 82-63 with 5:44 to play. The Presidents added eight-straight points to its run, which Emily Mountain (Youngstown, N.Y./Lewport) capped with a layup at the 2:32 mark. Ava Capozzoli (Canonsburg, Pa./Chartiers-Houston) capped the scoring, converting a layup that Alayna Wagner (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks) assisted in the waning seconds of the game.

The Presidents shot 48.5 percent (33-of-68) from the field and made 22-of-29 free throw attempts (75.9 percent). W&J out-rebounded Geneva by a significant 55-34 margin. The Presidents limited the Golden Tornadoes to 10 made threes on 43 attempts (23.3 percent).
 
W&J travels to Waynesburg University for a conference game on Wednesday (Jan. 14). The start time is scheduled for 7 p.m.