LATROBE, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team (22-6) turned in another strong defensive performance to down Saint Vincent College (21-7) by a 64-43 score in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game Saturday afternoon inside the Carey Center in Westmoreland County.

The victory gives the Presidents their second consecutive PAC championship and eighth in program history. It's the fourth PAC crown for W&J under head coach Jina DeRubbo.

Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan), who earned the honor as the PAC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, finished with 17 points including a pair of three-pointers. Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area) poured in a game-high 22 points which included going 3-of-3 from beyond the three-point line and making all five of her free throw attempts. Riley DeRubbo (Washington, Pa./Trinity) scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half. Marina Grado (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) made it four Presidents in double figures scoring with 10 points. Kovalchick and DeRubbo joined Loutsion on the PAC All-Tournament Team.

A near lights out fourth quarter shooting performance and lock down defense helped the Presidents pull away and complete its dominant run to the title. W&J won each of the three tournament games by double digits and an average of 20.6 points per game. The Presidents limited the opposition to an average of 46 points per game during the three-game tournament run to earn the eighth PAC Tournament title in program history.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured six ties and five lead changes. The Presidents opened up an early 7-2 lead which was keyed by a DeRubbo three-pointer. The lead changed hands three times over the final 5:47 of the opening quarter with W&J leading by a 14-13 score following a late three-point play by Kovalchick.

The Presidents extended the lead to six following a three by Kovalchick and free throws by Loutsion, which made it 22-16 at the 7:19 mark of the second quarter. The Presidents continued to hold a multi-possession lead until a 7-0 spurt gave the Bearcats a 27-26 with 2:24 remaining in the half. Saint Vincent carried a narrow 29-28 lead into the halftime break.

Faced with a slim halftime deficit, the Presidents owned the second half. Kovalchick accounted for the first seven points of the third quarter. A pair of jumpers sandwiched around a made three-point field goal made it 35-29 in favor of the Presidents at the 6:23 mark. A few minutes later, DeRubbo buried a corner three and Grado used a steal and fast break layup to help the Presidents lead 42-36 heading to the fourth quarter.

W&J left no doubt in the fourth quarter. The Presidents shot 70 percent (7-of-10) from the field and made 3-of-4 three-pointers over the final 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Saint Vincent made just two field goals in the fourth. All told the Presidents outscored the Bearcats by a 22-7 score in the fourth. Consecutive three-point plays by DeRubbo stretched the lead into double figures for the first time at 48-36 with 8:33 left. The Presidents commanded the rest of the game. Loutsion drilled a three with 3:58 to extend the lead to 58-40 and put an exclamation point on the Presidents' dominant tournament run.

As a team, the Presidents shot 44.4 percent from the floor (20-of-45), a season-best 57.1 percent from three-point range (8-of-14) and 88.9 percent from the free throw line (16-of-18). W&J also forced 13 turnovers and converted them into 15 points.

The victory helped the Presidents avenge a pair of regular season losses to the Bearcats. Saint Vincent scored more than 70 points in both of those victories. However, Saturday's title game was a different story, as the Presidents locked down the Bearcats.

Washington & Jefferson earns the PAC's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship. The entire bracket will be announced on the NCAA's selection show on its website Monday at 2:30 p.m.