• Box Score

WAYNESBURG (Feb. 20) – Despite holding the Presidents to just 31.7 percent from the field, the Yellow Jackets suffered a 54-38 loss to Washington & Jefferson Wednesday night at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action.

With the loss, Waynesburg now falls to 1-23 overall and 0-13 in league play. W&J moves to 18-6 with a 10-3 mark in conference action and remains tied with Bethany College for second place in the conference standings. The Presidents and Bison conclude their regular season against each other Saturday afternoon in Bethany.

In her first start in over two weeks, freshman guard Celina Gomez (pictured) scored a team and career-high 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Fellow freshman guard Marquis Demniak finished with nine points on three three-pointers, while senior guard Amanda Mitchell added seven points off the bench in the home game of her career.

Junior forward Michaelene Jones led the team with eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Johnna Deco collected four steals.

The Yellow Jackets held the Presidents to just 15 points in the opening 15 minutes of the game, as W&J lead 15-10 with 5:31 before halftime. After the Presidents scored five-straight points to stretch their lead to 10 points, the Yellow Jackets countered with six-unanswered points to enter halftime down four points, 20-16.

In the opening three minutes of the second half, W&J claimed a double-digit lead before Waynesburg answered with five-unanswered points to trim the deficit to 29-22 following a three-pointer by Gomez. The Presidents eventually stretched their lead to 15 points, 41-26, with 7:38 remaining in the game before Waynesburg trimmed the deficit to nine points, 44-35, after a trey by Demniak with 4:25 left in the half.

Junior forward Emily Hays led the W&J with 11 points, while sophomore guard Kennan Killeen added 10 points, seven rebounds, seven steals and six assists. Sophomore forward Maggie Gibson led the Presidents with nine rebounds (six offensive).

For the game, Waynesburg shot 36.6 percent (15-of-41) from the floor – its highest percentage in over a month – with seven three-pointers.

The Presidents out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets by a 39-31 margin, including 19 offensive rebounds that were converted into 15 points. W&J also collected 20 steals off 29 turnovers by Waynesburg and scored 22 points off turnovers.

The Yellow Jackets conclude their regular season on Saturday, Feb. 23, when they travel to Pittsburgh to face Chatham University for a 2 p.m. conference game.