BETHANY, W.VA. (Jan. 22) – The Waynesburg University women's basketball team traveled to Bethany, West Virginia, Wednesday evening to take on the Bison in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup. The Yellow Jackets overcame a 16-point deficit in the second quarter to defeat Bethany 74-73 on the road for their second-straight win.
 
Waynesburg (4-13, 3-5) bounced back strong in the second half of play after trailing 42-28 at the end of the first half. Over the final 20 minutes, Waynesburg outscored Bethany (3-14, 2-6) 46-31.
 
Senior guard Erin Joyce (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bishop Canevin) led the team in scoring with 17 points on five-of-13 shooting from the field. She also collected four rebounds. Junior guard Andrea Orlosky (Shelocta, Pa. / West Shamokin) had a double double in the game, scoring 16 points and snagging a game-high 14 rebounds. Sophomore center Brooke Fuller (Allison Park, Pa. / Hampton) also managed a double double, scoring 12 points and bringing down 10 rebounds.
 
The Yellow Jackets started the game in a 7-0 hole but played evenly with the Bison for the remainder of the first quarter. Waynesburg found itself for a nine-point deficit (24-15) at the end of the opening 10 minutes.
 
Bethany built its lead to as much as 16 points in the second quarter on multiple occasions. By the time the two teams entered the locker rooms for halftime, the Bison held a 42-28 advantage over Waynesburg.
 
The third quarter proved to be much different from the first 20 minutes of action, as the Yellow Jackets began to chip away at the lead. In just over eight minutes of play in the period, the Yellow Jackets went on a 16-6 run to cut their deficit to just four points at 48-44, capped off by a pair of free throws and a layup by Joyce. By the end of the third, the Yellow Jackets trailed just 54-48.
 
The fourth quarter started with a lot of back-and-forth between the two squads, but then the Yellow Jackets began to cut back into lead with 7:19 remaining when Fuller connected on a layup to bring the score to 61-56 in favor of the Bison.
 
Following that basket, Waynesburg went on a 7-2 run to tie the game up at 64, with Orlosky putting up the game-tying points following an offensive rebound. After giving up a Bison layup, Joyce tied the game back up again at 66 apiece with a layup of her own.
 
The Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the night with 3:30 remaining in the fourth, as Orlosky converted the second of two free throw attempts to give the team a 67-66 advantage. Sophomore guard Kacey Kastroll (South Park, Pa. / South Park) extended the lead to 70-66 by hitting a three-pointer with 2:43 remaining in the fourth quarter.  
 
Waynesburg built up to a five-point lead with just under a minute to go in the contest, but Bethany continued to battle until the final buzzer. The Bison hit a three-pointer with just under 20 seconds remaining to cut the Yellow Jacket lead to two points. After an Orlosky free throw, Bethany drew a foul and connected on both free throws to bring the game to 74-73 in favor of the Yellow Jackets with four seconds remaining.
 
Waynesburg managed to hold on to that advantage by the time the clock ran out on the contest.
 
The Bison edged the Yellow Jackets in both field goal and three-point percentage, but the Yellow Jackets took advantage of 30 free throw attempts by connecting on 21 of them. Waynesburg also won the rebound battle 40-35.
 
The women's basketball team will be back in action this Saturday, Jan. 25, as it hosts Grove City at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse in a PAC matchup. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.