PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Geneva College women's basketball team put together its best effort since returning from break in its game on Wednesday night at Chatham, but it wasn't quite enough. The Golden Tornadoes stormed out to a double-digit first half lead, and they still maintained a lead at halftime, but Geneva couldn't hold off the Cougars who came back and won, 69-59. Chatham improved to 10-4 overall, 4-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva fell to 1-12, 0-6 in the PAC.
Geneva came out strong in the first quarter. Junior Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) opened the scoring with a bucket. Chatham responded with a three-pointer to take its only lead of the half before the Golden Tornadoes answered with seven straight points, five by senior Jeana Luciana (Oakmont, Pa./Saint Joseph), to go ahead 9-3. Just over a minute later, sophomore Paige Repine (Marion Center, Pa./Marion Center) knocked down a three-pointer to give Geneva a 12-4 lead. Another three-pointer by Repine at the end of the first quarter gave Geneva a 20-12 lead heading into the first break.
Geneva's hot shooting from long range continued into the second quarter. Repine hit her third three-pointer of the half, followed by back-to-back three pointers from Luciana and senior Meghan Hirneisen (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim), giving the Golden Tornadoes their biggest lead of the game, 29-17. Chatham answered with back-to-back three pointers to cut the deficit in half, and Geneva settled for a 35-31 lead going into halftime. Repine led the offense with nine points, while Tipton added six points and 11 rebounds.
Luciana opened the second half with a jumper, but the Cougars responded with a 9-2 run to take its first lead since the opening minute of the game, 40-39. Chatham eventually stretched its lead to 50-43 before Geneva answered back. Over the last minute of the third quarter and the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, the Golden Tornadoes went on a 10-2 run to take back the lead, 53-52. Unfortunately, that would be the last lead of the game for Geneva.
The Golden Tornadoes went cold over the next four minutes, failing to score, while Chatham put together ten straight points to take hold of the game, 62-53. Luciana and Repine knocked down three-pointers to pull Geneva within 62-59, but the Golden Tornadoes were unable to score over the final 3:39 of the game, and Chatham pulled away for the 69-59 victory.
Repine led the Geneva offense with a career-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range. Luciana added 16 points, including four three-pointers, while Tipton finished with a double-double, 13 points and 15 rebounds. Geneva finished the game 12-of-30 (40%) from deep, its best performance of the season, but the Golden Tornadoes struggled from two-point range, shooting just 34% from the floor overall. Geneva committed 24 turnovers and failed to contain Chatham guard Kaitlyn Fertig, who finished with a game-high 30 points.
"The ladies played hard, but we just did not execute down the stretch," said Head Coach Michael Grinder. "We had every opportunity to come in here and win tonight, and we put ourselves in position to do that. I give Chatham credit for hitting the shots when they needed to down the stretch."
Geneva returns home for a 1:00 p.m. tipoff Saturday against first place Saint Vincent.
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.
