LATROBE, Pa. (Jan. 15) – The Waynesburg University women's basketball team traveled to Saint Vincent on Wednesday night to face the top team in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). The Yellow Jackets showed no fear of the Bearcats and battled down to the end before coming up short of the upset by the final score of 96-86.
Things started poorly for Waynesburg (2-13, 1-5), which fell behind 24-9 over the first seven minutes of play. However, the visiting team took a chunk out of the deficit thanks to a period-ending 11-4 run that made the score 28-20 heading to the second.
Saint Vincent (10-5, 6-0) rebuilt several double-digit leads throughout the second quarter and by the time the two squads broke for their respective locker rooms, the Cats held a 54-43 advantage. The SVC lead grew as large as 18 points in the third, but another Waynesburg surge, this time of the 18-10 variety, pulled the Orange and Black back within range of victory.
Trailing 77-67 heading into the final 10 minutes of action, back-to-back layups by senior Alli Delaney (Belmont, Ohio / Union Local) and sophomore
Brooke Fuller (Allison Park, Pa. / Hampton) cut the deficit down to 77-71. With 3:52 showing on the game clock, the Jackets still trailed by just a half-dozen (86-80). Unfortunately, that was as close as Waynesburg came to grabbing the win, as the home team closed out the contest by scoring 10 of the final 16 points.
Waynesburg's offense featured five double-digit scorers and were led by Delaney's team-high 22 points. She shot eight-of-16 from the floor and knocked down four of nine tries from the three-point range. Senior
Andrea Orlosky (Shelocta, Pa. / West Shamokin) chipped in 17 points and eight rebounds.
Freshman point guard
Anika Dansby (Massilon, Ohio / Washington) put together another solid day on the court, going for 14 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals. Dansby connected on four-of-six shots from the floor and was successful on three-of-four attempts from long range.
Fulller and freshman guard
Leighton Croft (Morgantown, W.Va. / Trinity Christian) went for 12 and 10 points, respectively, to complete the quintet of scorers with at least 10 points on the night.
Waynesburg put on a show from three-point range, knocking down 10-of-21 treys.
The Jackets return home on Saturday for another PAC game against Thiel. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
