Beaver Falls, PA—On Saturday afternoon, the Geneva College women's basketball team knocked off Pitt-Greensburg, 74-53, inside Metheny Fieldhouse. The victory improved Geneva's overall record to 2-2, while Pitt-Greensburg fell to 0-3.
Geneva started strong right from the opening whistle, as the Golden Tornadoes made three 3-pointers, one by senior Lydia Songer and two by junior Callie Ford, on its first three possessions to give Geneva a quick 9-0 lead, and it never looked back. The Golden Tornadoes stretched their lead as high as 16 points before settling for a 22-11 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.
Pitt-Greensburg responded with a better 2nd quarter, and the Bobcats rallied to cut the deficit to just seven points, 38-31, at the halftime break. Ford carried most of the offensive load as she scored 19 points in the first half.
Geneva did not allow the visiting Bobcats to get any closer than seven points in the 2nd half, though, as the Golden Tornadoes extended the lead back out to 13 points, 55-42, at the end of the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter proved much of the same, and Geneva finished off the victory, 74-53, behind a balanced attack.
"I was really pleased how we started, both in the first half, and then coming out of the second half," Head Coach Lori Wynn commented. "Callie led us in the first half, but we had a number of people really step up in the second half. And we were really strong defensively. That's been a point of emphasis all week, so to see the girls execute our game-plan was really encouraging. Plus, we really shared the ball well offensively. When we get that kind of balance, we're a really improved team."
Ford led the team offensively, even without scoring in the second half, with 19 points and 9 rebounds. She was also 4-6 from 3-point range, as the team shot an impressive 9-14 from long range. Junior Jodie Carlson added 11 points, while five other players scored at least 7 points on the afternoon. Geneva shot 52% from the field and out-rebounded Pitt-Greensburg, 39-30.
Geneva heads back out onto the road next week as it travels to Bethany on Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off, and then on to Thiel on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. start time.
