WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team (1-0) kicked off their 2026-27 season with a 62-58 victory over the Transylvania Pioneers (0-1) in the second game of the first annual Coach Vicki Staton Tipoff Classic. Both teams last season were NCAA Tournament teams after each winning their conference championships.
Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area) and
Jaden Wan (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock) led the way offensively for the Presidents. Kovalchick dropped a double-double in the opener with 22 points and 14 rebounds. The senior center also had four assists and one block. Wan scored 21 points with eight total rebounds. Wan had three assists and three steals to balance her opening night stat line. Freshman guard
Bri Morreale (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) had a productive debut for the Presidents, scoring seven points with two steals and two assists.
The Pioneers got out to an early lead in the first quarter, 10-4. A triple drained off a pass from
Marina Grado (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) dropped the Transylvania advantage to three. Transy responded quickly with a 10-point swing to take a 17-7 lead. With under a minute to play,
Jacey Mullen (New Springfield, Ohio/Springfield Local) connected with Kovalchick for a layup in the paint to reduce the lead to eight.
After surrendering the first points of the second quarter to the Pioneers, the Presidents clicked offensively. W&J entered a 12-point swing to take their first lead of the contest since the opening minutes of the first quarter, 21-20. Kovalchick and Wan combined for 10 points during the run. Morreale, Grado and Wan helped elevate the W&J advantage to 29-28 prior to the close of the opening half. W&J outscored Transylvania 20-11 in the second quarter.
Kovalchick and the Presidents came out of the half right where they left off, scoring the first points of the third quarter, 32-28.
Raegan Kadlecik (McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour) added a bucket in response to a Transy free throw make. Kovalchick drilled a fastbreak triple to grow the lead to eight shortly after, 37-29. A Morreale three pointer helped W&J take a 44-38 lead into the final quarter of play.
W&J remained in the drivers seat at the beginning of the fourth quarter, growing the lead to 10 with just over seven minutes to play. Wan scored six points in the opening three minutes of play, two coming through a mid-range opportunity.
Kylie Fruehstorfer (New Castle, Pa./Union) sunk a shot from beyond the arc to advance the lead to 53-43. Despite the Red & Black momentum, Transy continued to chip away at the dwindling W&J lead. The Pioneers managed to cut the lead to two with a 1:13 remaining in the fourth quarter off a made three. A turnover gave Transylvania the ball with under 40 seconds to play. Transy missed back-to-back layups leading to a trip to the charity stripe for the Presidents to put the game away. Mullen did just that by making both free throws to secure the 62-58 victory.
W&J held a multitude of advantages through the season-opening clash. The Presidents cleaned up on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 35-30. The Red & Black also held differentials in fastbreak points (13-3), points in the paint (36-28) and points off of turnovers (16-13).
The Presidents return to Salvitti Family Gymnasium for their second and final game of the first annual Coach Vicki Staton Tipoff Classic with a 4:00 p.m. game against Case Western Reserve.
