GREENVILLE, Pa. – It's been a tough rebuilding season for the Geneva College women's basketball team and first-year Head Coach Michael Grinder, but the Golden Tornadoes finished out the regular season on Saturday afternoon with a victory over Thiel, 70-51, and the win qualified Geneva for the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) playoffs beginning on Monday.  Geneva improved to 3-20 overall, 2-14 in the PAC, while Thiel saw its season come to a winless end, 0-25 overall, 0-16 in the PAC.

It was Thiel that jumped out to an early 8-4 lead after the Tomcats hit back-to-back three-pointers in the first three minutes.  A three-pointer by senior Jeana Luciana (Oakmont, Pa./Saint Joseph) a minute later gave Geneva its first lead of the game, 9-8, a lead the Golden Tornadoes would never relinquish after Luciana followed with another three-pointer and a jumper to extend Geneva's lead to 14-8.  The Golden Tornadoes would eventually stretch their lead to 24-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Geneva opened the second quarter on an 11-2 run, and after junior Emily Melnek (Poland, Ohio/Poland) hit back-to-back three-pointers, Geneva held a 35-18 lead.  Thiel managed to slice the Geneva lead down to 39-28 with a minute remaining until halftime, but two free throws by Luciana gave the Golden Tornadoes a 41-28 lead at the break.  Luciana had 13 points at the intermission.

The third quarter was a fairly even period for both teams, as the Geneva lead fluctuated between 10 and 14 points the whole quarter, with the Golden Tornadoes taking a 52-41 at the final break.

Thiel managed to cut the lead to single digits early in the fourth quarter, 55-46, the first time the Geneva lead had been under ten points since early in the second quarter.  However, the Golden Tornadoes immediately responded with a ten-point run, with Melnek hitting three-pointers to begin and end the run, putting the game away for Geneva.  The Golden Tornadoes punched their ticket into the PAC playoffs from there, 70-51.

Luciana finished the game with 20 points, including four three-pointers.  Melnek added 17 points and eight rebounds, while junior Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian) contributed 15 points and nine rebounds.  Sophomore Shannon Wolfe (Alliance, Ohio/West Branch) added six points and 10 rebounds.  Geneva shot 36% from the floor, but an improved 9-of-24 (38%) from three-point range.  The Golden Tornadoes held Thiel to 30% shooting while outrebounding the Tomcats 52-40.

"We put together four quarters today and that enabled us to come out with the win," said Coach Grinder.  "Lauren, Emily and Jeana have been our best scorers all year, and when they all play well, we can be a competitive team in this conference.  With the playoffs beginning on Monday, we will need a similar effort every game going forward.  It's been a tough year in a lot of ways for our team, but it's nice to finish the regular season with a win."

Geneva finishes the regular season with the eighth seed in the PAC playoffs.  With the PAC playoff format giving the top four teams a bye in the first round, Geneva will travel to fifth-seed Chatham on Monday for a 7:00 p.m. playoff game.


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 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva is included on Kiplinger's Personal Finance's "2019 Best College Values" list and has one of the top undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. 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.