GROVE CITY, Pa. – After a fast start for the Geneva College women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon at Grove City, the game quickly got away from the Golden Tornadoes.  The Wolverines played more consistently throughout, and Grove City never looked back in defeating Geneva 89-56.  Grove City improved to 2-0 overall, 2-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, while Geneva fell to 2-3 overall, 2-3 in the PAC.

Geneva actually jumped out to a 6-0 lead after senior Emily Melnek (Poland, Ohio/Poland) and freshman Abby King (New Geneva, Pa./Albert-Gallatin) hit back-to-back three-pointers just over a minute into the game.  A minute later, King hit another three-pointer to give Geneva a 9-4 lead.  Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there for the Golden Tornadoes.  Grove City scored the next 16 points in the game, taking a 20-9 lead on its way to a 23-13 lead at the first break.

The Golden Tornadoes could never stem the tide the rest of the game, unable to get the deficit back into single digits.  Grove City methodically extended the lead as the Geneva offense went cold.  When the Golden Tornadoes weren't missing shots, they were often turning it over against the Grove City pressure, with Geneva going almost five minutes in the middle of the quarter without scoring a point.  Back-to-back three-pointers by Melnek and sophomore Isabella Roth (Ellwood City, Pa./Ellwood City) in the final 30 seconds of the half kept the margin from being worse, with Grove City taking a 42-26 lead into the break.

Grove City quickly put the game away to start the second half.  The Wolverines scored the first seven points of the third quarter and never looked back.  Grove City led 75-40 at the end of the quarter, and the Wolverines pushed their lead to 41 points, 86-45, before finishing off the 89-56 victory.

"We have to take care of the ball and box out," said Head Coach Michael Grinder.  "We missed a lot of open looks and it really hurt us in the second and third quarters, when they did most of their damage.  We lost, but at the same time our freshmen are gaining valuable experience that should benefit us as this season moves along."

King led the team with a career-high 16 points, including three three-pointers.  Melnek was right behind, with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from three-point range.  Geneva's leading scorer, senior Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian), was held mostly in check, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds.  The offense once again had a rough day, shooting just 28% from the floor while turning it over 33 times.  Jess Bowen led Grove City with a game-high 30 points.  The Wolverines finished with 34 fast-break points, as well as 26 second-chance points on 28 offensive rebounds.

Geneva is now over halfway through its regular season schedule, having played three of the top teams in the PAC in Saint Vincent, W&J and Grove City.  Up next for the Golden Tornadoes is a home matchup with Bethany next Wednesday, February 17, at 7:00 p.m. in Metheny Fieldhouse.


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.