BLUFFTON, Ohio – A cold-shooting Geneva College women's basketball team dropped its opening game in the McDonald's of Bluffton Holiday Classic on Wednesday evening, losing to the host Bluffton 93-55. Geneva dropped to 3-4 overall, while Bluffton improved to 5-4.
Geneva won the opening tip and freshman Taylor Jackson (Clairton, Pa./Clairton) drove and laid it in just seconds into the game. Junior Isabella Roth (Ellwood City, Pa./Ellwood) stole the inbounds pass and passed to sophomore Emily Bucheit (Kane, Pa./Kane) who laid it in to give the Golden Tornadoes a 4-0 lead seconds into the game. After Bluffton tied the game at 6-6, Roth knocked down a three-pointer to regain the lead for Geneva. Unfortunately, things went poorly the rest of the way. The Beavers scored the next 14 points, as the Golden Tornadoes went cold while Bluffton broke though the Geneva pressure for easy layups, and the Beavers took a 32-16 lead into the first break.
Things didn't go any better for Geneva in the second quarter, as Bluffton continued to create easy layups off the Golden Tornado pressure, opening the quarter with a 14-2 run. That gave the Beavers a 46-18 lead and effectively put the game away. Bluffton took a 59-27 lead into the break as Geneva made just 1-of-17 shots from three-point range. Junior Mia San Nicolas (Sinajana, Guam/Academy of Our Lady of Guam) provided most of the offense in the first half, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor. The rest of the team combined to shoot 5-of-31 (16%).
The second half slowed down, as Geneva fell back into a zone defense. Sophomore Anna Hampshire (Lincoln University, Pa./Oxford Area) had a solid half, scoring 12 points, but the Golden Tornadoes could still never find its shot and fell 93-55.
San Nicolas led the team with 15 points. Geneva shot just 19-of-74 (25.7%) from the floor, including a 5-of-40 (12.5%) effort from three-point range. Bluffton had five different players in double figures and shot 45.6% from the floor. The Beavers outrebounded the Golden Tornadoes 64-38.
Geneva has a quick turnaround with a game against Ohio Northern tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. on the final day of the holiday classic. Ohio Northern defeated St. Mary's (Ind.) earlier in the day, 56-26.
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 has one of the top 100 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. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).
