BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The season-opener for the Geneva College women's basketball team against Penn State Altoona on Wednesday evening was an adventure at times, with the Golden Tornadoes embracing an up-and-down fast-paced style of play under new Head Coach Michael Grinder.  A bad first quarter left Geneva staring at a big deficit, though, and the Golden Tornadoes could never recover in falling 82-63.  Penn State Altoona improved to 1-0, while Geneva fell to 0-1.

Freshman Isabella Roth (Ellwood City, Pa./Ellwood City) hit a 3-pointer in the opening minute to give Geneva an early 5-2 lead.  A bucket three minutes later by junior Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian Academy) regained the lead for Geneva at 7-6, but it would be the last lead of the game for the Golden Tornadoes.  Penn State Altoona outscored Geneva 21-3 over the final 5:43 of the first quarter, including 13 straight points to finish out the period, giving the Lions a commanding 27-10 lead.

A layup to begin the second quarter by sophomore Shannon Wolfe (Alliance, Ohio/West Branch) broke the Geneva scoring drought, and that layup sparked a 9-0 run, cutting the deficit to 27-19.  The Golden Tornadoes kept the margin in that range the remainder of the quarter until Penn State Altoona hit back-to-back three-pointers in the half's final minute to stretch the lead back out to 41-25 at the halftime break.

Geneva was unable to make up any ground in the third quarter, with Penn State Altoona building their lead to 47-25, the biggest lead of the game, just over a minute into the second half.  Geneva got to within 15 points, 49-34, after a jumper from junior Emily Melnek (Poland, Ohio/Poland) with 4:40 remaining in the quarter, but the Lions extended their lead back out to 61-40 heading into the fourth quarter.

Roth's three-pointer with 1:47 remaining was as close as Geneva got in the final quarter, 75-61, and Penn State closed out the win, 82-63.

Melnek led the offense with 18 points, including 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range.  Tipton, who battled foul trouble, had a big night as well, finishing with 15 points and 17 rebounds in just under 19 minutes of action.  Roth also reached double-figures in her first game in college, contributing 13 points. 

Geneva's fast-paced style didn't create many easy buckets, though, as the Golden Tornadoes shot just 21-of-73 (28.8%) from the floor despite forcing 22 turnovers.  The Golden Tornadoes struggled even more with ball security, though, finishing with 30 turnovers.  All thirteen healthy players on the Geneva roster played at least seven minutes, with the up-tempo style contributing to regular substitutions.

"Turnovers and fouls doomed us tonight," said Coach Grinder.  "We haven't been able to practice much with our regular point guards so far, with Paige Repine hurt and Lydia Roth just coming over from soccer, so some of our struggles tonight were self-inflicted.  We're still figuring out who we are as a roster, with adding a couple players here late.  It's going to take some time for everyone to understand what we're trying to do, while also figuring out as coaches who can do what in game play.  We had some moments tonight where things came together, but other times it was painfully clear we have a roster that hasn't been together very long, playing a style that's new to all of them."

Geneva heads out onto the road for a tournament at Cairn University this weekend.  The Golden Tornadoes play Cairn at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and then face Penn State Lehigh Valley at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday.


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 115 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 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.