PITTSBURGH, Pa. – It has been a long season for the Geneva College women's basketball team.  The Golden Tornadoes came into Saturday afternoon's game at Chatham University, the fourth place team in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), on a 15-game losing streak.  Despite the long odds, Geneva used a late rally to stun the host Cougars on their Senior Day, 62-61.  Geneva improved to 3-19, 1-13 in the PAC, while Chatham fell to 12-12, 8-7 in the PAC.

Geneva scored early to take a 5-2 lead after two free throws from sophomore Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian).  From there the first quarter went back and forth, with a Chatham 3-pointer with a second remaining giving the Cougars a 14-13 lead.

With the game tied at 24-24 in the second quarter, Chatham scored five quick points to go up 29-24.  Another 3-pointer from Chatham gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the first half, 32-26, before a jumper from freshman Shannon Wolfe (Alliance, Ohio/West Branch) with 40 seconds remaining put the deficit at 32-28 heading into halftime.  Senior Callie Ford (New Middletown, Ohio/Springfield Local) had eight points to lead Geneva, while Tipton grabbed 10 rebounds in the half.

Geneva opened the second half on a 7-2 run, with Wolfe converting a three-point play to go up 35-34.  From there Chatham went on a big run, 16-2, over the next seven minutes to take what appeared to be a commanding 50-37 lead with just a minute remaining in the third quarter.  However, five points in the last minute from Ford cut the Chatham lead down to 50-42 heading into the fourth quarter.

Another 3-pointer for Chatham three minutes into the final quarter pushed the lead back to 55-44.  At that point the game turned around for the Golden Tornadoes.  Geneva scored the next 13 points, with two free throws from Tipton giving the Golden Tornadoes the lead, 57-55, with 3:30 remaining.  The game stayed tight the rest of the way.  Chatham closed to within 62-61 with a free throw with just under a minute remaining, but that would be the last point of the game.  Tipton came up with a big block with two seconds remaining, and a last second 3-pointer from Chatham was short, giving Geneva the comeback victory.

"We played hard and finally put all the pieces together down the stretch," said a happy Head Coach Lori Wynn.  "Lauren was a monster today on the boards.  We had a lot of people step up in a big way.  I am so proud of our kids and their ability to continue to work hard and get better, despite the win-loss record not reflecting that."

Ford led the way again offensively with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.  Tipton had a big stat line as well, with 10 points, a career-high 18 rebounds, and 5 blocks.  Senior Noelle Henry (Hopewell, Pa./Hopewell) also had her best game of the year, finishing with 11 points and 6 rebounds.  Geneva shot just 31% for the game, including just 4-of-19 from 3-point range.  However, Geneva's defense came up big, holding Chatham to 31% as well, and the Golden Tornadoes outrebounded the Cougars 56-42.  Katie Sieg scored 20 points to lead Chatham.

Geneva finishes up its regular season next week with two home games, on Wednesday against Saint Vincent, and on Saturday against Thiel for Senior Day.  Both games start at 5:30 p.m.


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.