WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Feb. 22) – The Waynesburg University women's basketball team hosted Westminster on Wednesday night for a quarterfinal matchup in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) tournament. The Yellow Jackets never trailed against the Titans and rolled to a 71-50 win.
 
With the victory, Waynesburg (16-10) advances to Friday's PAC semifinal round. The fourth-seeded Jackets will face top-seeded Thomas More, which received a double bye in the tournament. All games in the semifinals and finals will be played at Thomas More.
 
The home team scored the first four points of the game, before the Titans (11-16) responded with an old fashioned three-point play that cut their deficit to a single point. Waynesburg fired back by scoring the next eight points to build a 12-3 lead with 3:47 left in the first quarter.
 
The Titans tallied the next six points of the opening period, but a free throw from junior guard Rachel Eng coupled with a layup by senior forward Haley Delaney gave Waynesburg a 15-9 advantage. That wound up being the score going to the second quarter.
 
After the Jackets expanding their advantage to as many as 13 points in period number two, Westminster pulled to within four points with just under four minutes remaining until halftime. The Orange and Black tallied the final two baskets of the half to go into the locker room leading 30-22.
 
Several long runs allowed Waynesburg to slowly pull away from Westminster throughout the second half. The Jackets outscored the opposition 19-9 in quarter number three. Already up 49-31 going into the fourth, the Jackets built leads as large as 29 points (71-42) before locking up the win.
 
Waynesburg's latest victory proved to be a true team effort. Despite its two leading scorers, junior forward Addy Knetzer and senior guard Katie Gehlmann, combining for just 13 points, three different Jackets reached double digits in scoring.
 
Junior Mackenna Drazich came off the bench to knock down six-of-eight field goals for a game and personal collegiate-high 17 points. Sophomore guard Monica Starre went for 12 points, seven rebounds and a game-high six assists. Senior forward Haley Delaney tallied her fifth double-double on the year after going for 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
 
The Jackets held notable advantages in several major statistical categories. They outshot the Titans 38.8 percent to 27.5 percent, out-rebounded Westminster 48-to-36 and recorded 16 assists, while the opposition dished out just eight total helpers.