WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team (21-6) pulled away in the second half to secure a 58-42 victory over Chatham University (18-9) in a PAC Tournament semifinal matchup Thursday night at Salvitti Family Gymnasium. In a rematch of last year's conference title game, the Presidents and Cougars battled for 40 highly contested minutes before the Red and Black walked away with the victory to return to the league title game.
 
Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area) and Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) both registered double-double efforts for the Presidents. Kovalchick scored a team-high 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Loutsion posted her second-straight double-double performance in the conference tournament. Loutsion posted 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Red and Black.
 
Riley DeRubbo (Washington, Pa./Trinity) reached double figures for the 24th time this year, contributing 14 points. Marina Grado (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) was the fourth President to finish in double digits, finishing with 13 points and a team-high four assists.
 
The score remained close throughout the early going, that was until W&J closed out the first quarter on a 7-0 run, which was jump started with a DeRubbo three ball. After a three-point field goal by the Cougars gave them a 7-5 lead at the 5:31 mark, the Presidents held the visitors scoreless for the remainder of the opening frame and took a 12-7 lead into the second quarter.
 
W&J posted another 7-0 run in the second quarter, which was supported by two Loutsion buckets. Her three-point make at the 3:36 mark made it 22-13 Presidents.
 
Chatham responded with a 9-0 run of their own to tie the game at 22. Before the quarter ended, Loutsion was able to make another two-point basket, which allowed W&J to head to the locker room with a 24-22 lead.
 
To open the third quarter, Chatham made a basket, which evened the score at 24-24. However, the Presidents responded with their third run of seven or more unanswered points. This run reached a 10-0 mark, with five of those points coming from DeRubbo. The Presidents finished the third quarter by knocking down four straight free throws to take a 40-32 advantage into the fourth.
 
The fourth quarter started with a Kovalchick triple to stretch the W&J lead back into double figures, it's largest of the game to that point. The Presidents pulled away down the stretch with another triple by Loutsion and four made free throws by DeRubbo to put a cap on the victory.
 
Over the final 20 minutes, the W&J offense knocked down 10 of its 22 field goal attempts (45.5 percent) and outscored the Cougars by 14 points in the half to pull away for the win.
 
The Presidents converted 35.7 percent from the field, 30.8 percent from three-point range and 83.3 percent from the free throw line. The Cougars made just 15 field goals and converted at a 28.3 clip from the field. Chatham made just three-of-19 threes. The Cougars were 9-of-12 at the charity stripe. W&J had an advantage in rebounding, winning that battle by a somewhat decisive 46-32 margin.  
 
The victory moves W&J into the PAC Championship title game on Saturday afternoon at Saint Vincent with a 4:00 p.m. tipoff in Latrobe. The Presidents will look to defend their conference title from a year ago. The Presidents will be looking to avenge its only two regular season conference losses, which came at the hands of the Bearcats. Saturday's trip to the PAC Tournament title game will be the sixth in seven seasons for the Red and Black.