PITTSBURGH, Pa. (March 4) – The Waynesburg University women's basketball team continued its red hot run through the 2017 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets faced Springfield (Massachusetts) in the semifinals at Carnegie Mellon University and rolled through the Pride by the final score of 79-50.
After falling behind 4-2 to open the contest, Waynesburg (19-11) scored five-straight points to go up 7-4. That seemingly insignificant run wound up establishing a lead that the Jackets never relinquished over the remainder of the victory.
After taking a 17-8 lead into the second quarter, Waynesburg saw its advantage shrink to four points (27-23) before halftime. The Orange and Black rebounded with the last five points of the half to lead 32-23 at the break.
The second half belonged to the Jackets, who outscored Springfield (20-9) 47-27 over the third and fourth quarters. Waynesburg built leads as large as 30 points in the fourth quarter and shot 58 percent from the floor in the second half, while holding the pride to 28 percent shooting during the final 20 minutes of play.
For a second-straight game, all five of Waynesburg's starters reached double digits in scoring. Senior guard
Katie Gehlmann led the way with a game-high 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half. Sophomore points guard
Monica Starre added 16 points and a contest-best four assists.
Senior forward
Haley Delaney chipped in 12 points, while senior guard
Kassidy O'Keefe contributed 10 points to the winning effort. Junior forward
Addy Knetzer posted her 19
th double-double of season on 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Saturday marked the first-team All-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) selection's fourth-straight double-double.
Waynesburg faces easily its toughest test of the ECAC tournament when it faces the host team from Carnegie Mellon tomorrow at 12 p.m. The Tartans (20-7), who defeated Waynesburg 77-64 all the way back on Nov. 22, downed Stevenson 65-50 during the day's first semifinal game.