Box Score
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Jan. 30) – The Waynesburg University women's basketball team couldn't hang on to a halftime lead as rival Washington and Jefferson pulled away late to secure a 56-51 victory Wednesday night at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.
The loss dropped Waynesburg to 8-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference and 9-11 overall. The Presidents jumped into sole possession of third place as they improved to 9-4 in the PAC and 14-6 overall.
Waynesburg got on the board first when senior forward
Paige Pearce hit a jumper at the 17:47 mark. Pearce later added a free throw to make it 3-0 before Washington and Jefferson got on the board a minute later. Waynesburg pushed its lead to 7-2 when freshman
Heather Davis hit a jumper with 15:48 showing on the first-period clock. The Presidents responded with seven-straight points to take a 9-7 lead at the 12:47 mark, their first of the contest.
Waynesburg responded to go on a 15-7 run, which led to its largest lead of the first half at 22-14 with 4:57 left to play until halftime. Unfortunately for the Jackets, W&J closed the half on an 8-2 run over the final four-plus minutes to trail just 24-22 at halftime.
The strong play for the Presidents spilled over into the second half by scoring the first six points to pull into the lead at 28-24 with 17:40 to play. Waynesburg looked poised to win its seventh- straight game against W&J, as the Jackets fired back and took a 30-28 lead on a three-pointer by sophomore guard
Hayden Giuliani. The run continued as sophomore
Rebecca Kerr came off the bench to score on three-straight possessions. Kerr's trio of layups made it 36-30 at the 12:39 mark of the second half. As they did all night, the Presidents answered back, regaining a 43-42 lead at the 6:58 mark.
W&J held the lead until Waynesburg junior
Elaine Hasek nailed a three-pointer to tie the contest at 45-45 with 3:24 left to play. W&J kept its calm and went on a 7-1 run to distance itself from the host team. Each of those points came from Presidents forward Chelsea Apke. Waynesburg drew the score back to just one point when Pearce made a jumper with 48 seconds to go. However, the Jackets wouldn't score again and W&J sealed the victory.
Pearce led Waynesburg on the night with a team-best 14 points. She was the only Jacket to reach double figures in scoring. Kerr and senior guard
Brittany Spencer both pulled down five rebounds, while Spencer also chipped in four assists.
Apke scored 22 points and pulled down a game-best 14 rebounds for W&J. Valerie Dunlap added 23 points and 11 rebounds to key W&J in a 40-32 rebounding edge over Waynesburg.
Waynesburg made 32.8 percent (20-of-61) of its shots from the field. W&J shot 40.8 percent (20-for-49) from the floor, including 50 percent (12-of-24) in the second half. One key to the Presidents' win was their advantage from the free throw line. W&J made 14-of-19 from the charity stripe, while Waynesburg converted on eight-of-14 free throws.
The Jackets get back to action when they Geneva on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
