BLUFFTON, Ohio (Dec. 29) – The Waynesburg University women's basketball team finished off its weekend trip to the Bluffton McDonalds Holiday Tournament by facing Wilmington in the third-place game. Despite playing with just seven healthy players, the Yellow Jackets put together a furious late-game comeback attempt that came up just short of completion in an 81-75 loss to the Quakers.
Waynesburg (3-9) never led in the contest and found itself trailing 23-14 after the first quarter. The Jackets were able to inch one point closer to Wilmington (7-5) and trailed 45-37 at halftime.
The Orange and Black stayed within striking distance of an upset by playing the Quakers evenly in the third quarter and by the time the fourth period got underway, Waynesburg trailed 59-51. Junior
Andrea Orlosky (Shelocta, Pa. / West Shamokin) almost single-handedly tied the game early in the period by pouring in six-straight points to make the score 59-57.
Wilmington responded in a big way with a 15-3 run that gave it a 74-60 advantage with just five minutes showing on the game clock. To the Jackets' credit, they didn't yield under such a sizeable deficit.
Trailing by 11 with 2:52 remaining, Orlosky keyed another Waynesburg run by tallying six-straight points. Senior point guard
Monica Starre (Jewett, Ohio / Carrollton) followed with her final field goal of the game to make the score 78-75 Quakers with under a minute left in the contest.
Unfortunately, a trio of successful foul shots combined with a crucial steal allowed Wilmington to close out the victory.
Orlosky recorded her fourth 20-plus-point outing of the season after pouring in a game-high 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Starre did a little bit of everything on the day, going for 13 points, a game-high 13 rebounds, a contest-best seven steals and a team-high five assists.
Freshman guard
Haley Porter (Belmont, Ohio / Union Local) chipped in 13 points, as did junior guard
Erin Joyce (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bishop Canevin). Joyce was also named to the all-tournament team. Freshman center
Brooke Fuller (Allison Park, Pa. / Hampton) made it five Jackets in double figures with 10 points.
Waynesburg tips off the new year by returning to Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play. The Yellow Jackets travel to Washington & Jefferson on Saturday, Jan. 5, for a 1 p.m. meeting with the Presidents.
