BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – Saturday's game represented a tough matchup for the Geneva College women's basketball team.  Coming to town was a Grove City team that was a half game out of first place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), and the Wolverines rely on a full-court pressure defense that generates turnovers, which has been a problem for the Golden Tornadoes all year.  Unfortunately, turnovers did prove to be a problem for Geneva on Saturday afternoon as the Wolverines jumped out to a big early lead and never looked back in defeating the Golden Tornadoes, 85-56.  Grove City improved to 19-2 overall, 11-2 in the PAC, while Geneva fell to 2-17, 1-11 in the PAC.

Geneva committed six turnovers in the opening three minutes against the Grove City pressure, and it enabled the Wolverines to jump out to an 11-0 lead.  To compound issues, junior Lauren Tipton (Glenside Pa./Phil-Mont Christian), the second-leading scorer and leading rebounder in the PAC, picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and had to go to the bench.  Sophomore Shannon Wolfe (Alliance, Ohio/West Branch) finally got Geneva on the board almost four minutes into the game.  Grove City eventually stretched its lead to 31-10 at the end of the first quarter as the Golden Tornadoes committed 17 turnovers in the first period.

Grove City took its biggest lead of the first half, 38-14, midway through the second quarter before a three-pointer by junior Emily Melnek (Poland, Ohio/Poland) kick-started a ten-point run by Geneva in which Tipton scored four points and was finished off by a three-pointer from sophomore Paige Repine (Marion Center, Pa./Marion Center).  Three minute later, a layup by Wolfe cut the deficit to 41-31 with 1:34 remaining in the half, but Grove City scored the final five points of the half to take a 46-31 lead into the break.

The Wolverines put the game away early in the second half.  They opened the third quarter with a 21-6 run to take a commanding 67-37 lead, and the final result was never in doubt.  Geneva didn't give in, though, and over the next four minutes, including the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Golden Tornadoes scored 12 straight points to pull within 67-49, but Grove City finished off the game with a convincing 85-56 victory.

Wolfe tied her career-high, set earlier this season, with 13 points.  Tipton added 11 points and seven rebounds in 21 foul-plagued minutes.  Geneva finished the game with 34 turnovers and shot 35% from the floor, including a 5-of-23 (22%) effort from three-point range.  In comparison, Grove City finished 47% from the floor, including 11-of-27 (41%) from three-point range. 

"Turnovers were obviously a big problem for us today," said Head Coach Michael Grinder.  "We got really good production out of Shannon off the bench, but we're still looking to put four quarters together.

The schedule doesn't get any easier for Geneva as the Golden Tornadoes travel to Westminster on Wednesday for a 6:00 p.m tipoff.  The Titans are currently 10-3 in the PAC.


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.