GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Geneva College women's basketball team saw its season come to an end at Grove City on Monday night in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Quarterfinals.  After a close first quarter, the Wolverines pulled away for a 101-69 victory.  Geneva finishes the year with a 4-6 record, while Grove City improved to 8-1 and heads on to the PAC Semifinals.
 
Sophomore Isabella Roth (Ellwood City, Pa./Ellwood City) scored the opening bucket of the game after a steal and a layup, giving the Golden Tornadoes the early lead.  Geneva actually led for much of the opening quarter, building a four-point lead, 12-8, on two free throws from senior Lauren Tipton (Glenside, Pa./Phil-Mont Christian).  Turnovers were a problem, though, and it was Geneva miscues that allowed Grove City to stay with the Golden Tornadoes early, with the Wolverines converting those turnovers into easy points.  Geneva still managed an 18-15 lead before Grove City put together an 11-3 run over the final two minutes, including a three-pointer at the buzzer, to take a 26-21 lead.
 
Grove City continued to extend its lead early in the second quarter, with Geneva still struggling to handle the Wolverine full-court pressure.  Grove City opened the period on a 14-4 run to take a 40-25 lead, and combined with the final two minutes of the first quarter, the Wolverines outscored Geneva 25-7 over that six-minute stretch.  Geneva responded with seven straight points, pulling to within 40-32, but the Wolverines rebuilt their lead to 51-36 at the break.  The Golden Tornadoes had 18 turnovers in the first half.  Tipton and Roth led Geneva with eight points apiece.
 
Grove City put the game away early in the second half, steadily building its lead throughout the third quarter as Geneva turned it over 11 more times, enabling Grove City too many easy buckets.  The Wolverines led 85-52 after putting up 34 third-quarter points, and Grove City coasted in the fourth quarter to a 101-69 victory.
 
Seniors Tipton and Emily Melnek (Poland, Ohio/Poland) finished up their strong careers with good games.  Tipton added another double-double to her career totals, finishing with 13 points and 14 rebounds, while Melnek led the offense with 16 points, including a 4-of-7 effort from three-point range.  Roth chipped in with 15 points.  Geneva finished the game with 34 turnovers, leading to 44 points for the Wolverines.  The Golden Tornadoes were also out-rebounded on the boards, 56-37.  Jess Bowen led the Wolverines with a game-high 26 points.
 
Geneva will have two big holes to fill with the graduations of Tipton and Melnek, Geneva's leading scorers this season, but the Golden Tornadoes should return a number of underclassmen that helped Geneva jump up to sixth place in the PAC, tied for its best PAC finish since joining the conference ten years ago.  In fact, Geneva's four PAC victories in just a half a season this year matched its conference win total in the prior two seasons combined.


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.