BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's basketball team's losing streak reached ten games on Friday night at home against Bethany, as a bad second quarter was too much to overcome in a 78-60 loss to the Bison.  The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was moved up one day to avoid the snowstorm in the weather forecast.  Bethany improved to 10-8, 5-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva fell to 2-14, 0-9 in the PAC.

Both teams started well offensively in the first quarter, as the game went back and forth with each team answering its opponent's shots.  Neither team led by more than four points, and at the end of the first quarter, Bethany led 22-19.  At that point, Geneva was shooting 54% and Bethany 59%.

Unfortunately for the Golden Tornadoes, they cooled off in the second quarter while the Bison stayed hot.  After a 3-pointer from sophomore Alexis Gates (New Waterford, Ohio/Crestview) tied the game at 22-22 on Geneva's first possession, Bethany scored seven straight to go up 29-22.  A 3-pointer from senior Callie Ford (New Middleton, Ohio/Springfield Local) cut the deficit down to four, but Bethany ended the last seven minutes of the half on a 19-5 run to take a 48-30 lead into the break.

In the second half, Geneva could never make much of a dent in Bethany's lead.  The Bison stretched their lead to 62-37 towards the end of the third quarter, their biggest lead of the game.  Geneva closed to within 65-52 with seven minutes left in the game after sophomore Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian Academy) hit two free throws, but the Golden Tornadoes could not get any closer as Bethany closed out its victory, 78-60.

"This has been a rough stretch for our team," said Head Coach Lori Wynn.  "We had spurts where we played well, but when things go poorly, they really seem to snowball for us, and we just can't recover.  Once again our defense was not good enough, and our shot selection at times let us down.  We'll keep pushing to see if we can gain some positive momentum this last month."

Tipton led the offense with 20 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds.  Ford added 18 points to go with seven rebounds as well.  Geneva finished the game shooting just 29% from the floor, while Bethany closed at 49%.  The Bison were led by Ashley Duthie and Sammie Weiss who each scored 19 points.

Geneva heads back out onto the road for a game at Washington & Jefferson on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.  The Golden Tornadoes will be back in Metheny Fieldhouse next Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. tipoff with non-conference opponent Thomas More.


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.