GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Geneva College women's basketball team traveled to Thiel College on Wednesday night to take on another Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) team that had struggled this season.  However, a hot start by the Tomcats gave Thiel an early big lead, and Geneva could never recover in losing 79-56.  Thiel improved to 4-12, 2-6 in the PAC, while Geneva fell to 2-13, 0-8 in the PAC.
 
Thiel jumped all over Geneva during the first six minutes of the game.  The Tomcats made 10-of-13 shots to start the game off, including 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range, to take a 24-9 lead.  The early deficit would ultimately prove too difficult for Geneva to overcome.  Thiel led 28-12 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Geneva kept with Thiel in the second quarter, behind a couple 3-pointers from sophomore Alexis Gates (New Waterford, Ohio/Crestview) and strong play from senior Callie Ford (New Middleton, Ohio/Springfield Local).  The Golden Tornadoes outscored Thiel 20-19 in the quarter, but they still faced a 48-32 deficit at halftime.  Gates finished with 11 points in the half, while Ford added 10.
 
Thiel scored the first six points of the second half to stretch its lead to 54-32.  Geneva did manage to cut the deficit back down to 60-46 at the end of the quarter, but the Golden Tornadoes could never get closer than 13 points the rest of the way.  Thiel finished the game well, winning 79-56, the biggest margin of the game.

"We got off to such a poor start," said Head Coach Lori Wynn.  "We just can't afford to put ourselves in that kind of hole, and it was mainly due to defensive breakdowns.  We have to get better defensively if we are going to see improvement."
 
Ford finished with 17 points and eight rebounds to lead Geneva.  Gates added 15 points.  Sophomore Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian Academy) had another solid game, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.  Jess Vormelker finished with a game-high 23 points to lead four Tomcats in double figures.
 
Geneva returns home on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. tipoff against Bethany.


Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.