Box Score GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 6) – When the Waynesburg University women's basketball team met Thiel early last month, they needed overtime to finally put away the Tomcats. Over the first 30-plus minutes of Wednesday night's rematch, it looked like history might repeat itself. However, the Jackets pulled away late in regulation with a strong offensive showing to score an 84-75 victory in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action in Greenville, Pa.
With the victory, Waynesburg remained in a tie for third place in the PAC standings. The top four teams in the conference get to host a home game in the first round of the PAC tournament. Waynesburg improved to 10-5 in league play and 11-11 overall. Thiel dropped to 5-10 in the conference and 6-16 overall.
Things started well for Thiel, which scored the first six points of the contest over the first two and a half minutes of play. Waynesburg fired back thanks to freshmen
Gina Rievel and
Heather Davis tallying the Jackets' first five points of the contest to cut the Tomcat lead to 7-5. After Thiel connected on a three-pointer, two free throws for sophomore guard
Hayden Giuliani brought the Jackets to within two points at 9-7. The home team remained in the lead until senior guard
Jessi Drayer made a layup to notch the score up at 17-17 with 9:37 to play in the first half.
Shortly thereafter, Waynesburg secured a six-point lead of its own as Davis knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to push Waynesburg's first lead to 23-17 at the 8:33 mark. The Jackets held that lead until the Tomcats surged back to tie it at the 6:50 mark of the first half. From there, the rest of the first half was pretty back and forth, with neither team leading by more than four points. Thiel made a layup at the end of the first half to cut the deficit to 39-37.
The Jackets held the lead for the first eight minutes of the second half, pushing the lead to as many as six points before Thiel could even the score. Thiel regained the lead with a pair of free throws at the 11:51 mark. The Tomcats looked poised to pull the upset when they finished off an 11-0 run with a 61-54 at the 10:38 mark. However, Waynesburg used grit to respond with a 10-3 run to even it up at 61-61 when senior guard
Brittany Spencer connected on two free throws.
The two squads battled back and forth until Waynesburg finally regained the lead 75-74 on a Rievel free throw at the 1:25 mark. Even though Rievel missed the second free throw, senior
Paige Pearce grabbed the offensive rebound and converted a layup to stretch the lead to 77-74 with 1:25 to play. Thiel never recovered after that. Drayer converted a steal into a layup and then the Jackets converted five of eight free throws to ice the game. Waynesburg's defense held Thiel without a field goal over the final 2:50 of the contest.
Spencer led Waynesburg with a team-high 18 points. Meanwhile, Rievel chipped in 14 points and Davis tied a career-high with 10 points in her second collegiate start.
Both Spencer and Rievel pulled down a team-best seven rebounds. Spencer chipped in six assists and Rievel had a game-high four steals.
Waynesburg shot a respectable 40.3 percent for the contest from the field. The Jackets also connected on seven treys from behind the arc, while converting 19-of-27 free throws (70.4 percent). The Jackets defense forced Thiel into 20 turnovers and also held a 45-to-32 rebounding advantage.
Kelly Muffley led Thiel with 25 points, while Kelly Barzak tallied 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Waynesburg will look to win its third straight in PAC play when they travel to New Wilmington, Pa. for a pivotal contest on Saturday afternoon against Westminster. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.
