BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's basketball team finally got the chance to play a game after going almost two weeks without taking the court due to several recent postponements.   The Golden Tornadoes made sure the wait was worth it as junior Isabella Roth (Ellwood City, Pa./Ellwood City) and sophomore Emily Bucheit (Kane, Pa./Kane) had big games in leading Geneva to an 89-67 victory over Franciscan on Wednesday night.  Geneva improved to 4-5 overall, 3-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Franciscan remained winless on the season, dropping to 0-12, 0-6 in the PAC.  This is the best start to the season in conference for the Golden Tornadoes since 2015 when Geneva opened PAC play with three straight victories.

Geneva opened the game with layups from freshman Taylor Jackson (Clairton, Pa./Clairton) and Roth to give the Golden Tornadoes an early 4-0 lead less than a minute into the game.  The Barons battled back to take their only lead of the game, 9-8, three minutes later, but the Geneva pressure gave Franciscan issues, leading to numerous turnovers and easy buckets for the Golden Tornadoes. Despite missing its first nine three-point shots, Geneva pushed its lead out to 19-11 behind four straight points from junior Mia San Nicolas (Sinajana, Guam/Academy of Our Lady of Guam).  Bucheit's late three-pointer, Geneva's first of the game, helped the Golden Tornadoes take a 24-17 at the end of the first quarter.

The Golden Tornadoes opened the second quarter with layups from San Nicolas, junior Tess Liggett (Columbiana, Ohio/Columbiana) and Bucheit to give Geneva its first double-digit lead of the game, 30-17.  The Golden Tornadoes went cold, though, and Franciscan began to find success against the Geneva pressure, breaking through for layups over the next five minutes, which allowed the Barons to score 12 straight points and pull within one point, 30-29, with just over four minutes remaining before half.

Senior Shannon Wolfe (Alliance, Ohio/West Branch) finally broke the lid off the hoop for Geneva with a three-pointer, and after a Franciscan basket, the Golden Tornadoes finished the half on a 13-4 run, with Roth hitting three three-pointers over that stretch to give Geneva a 46-35 lead at the break. 

Bucheit opened the third quarter with another three-pointer, followed by a layup from sophomore Cynthia Stewart (Silver Springs, Md./Paint Branch), to extend the Golden Tornado lead to 51-35.  The Barons would close within 56-47 midway through the quarter, but Geneva pushed the lead back out to 67-54 at the final break.

Bucheit also opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer, and the Barons never got closer than 15 points the rest of the game.  Bucheit hit her fourth three-pointer of the game with just under two minutes remaining to push the Golden Tornado lead to 83-63, and Geneva easily closed out the victory, 89-67.

Bucheit and Roth both finished with career-highs of 20 points, with each guard hitting 4-of-9 three-pointers.  Stewart added 11 points and five steals.  Jackson contributed a solid line of four points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals.  Eleven different players scored.  Wolfe had a team-high eight rebounds, while San Nicolas added eight points, six rebounds and four blocks.  Geneva shot 38.6% from the floor, including a 9-of-40 (22.5%) effort from long range.  The Golden Tornadoes forced 29 Baron turnovers.

Franciscan was led by Jazzlyn Melnyk and Madison Doan, who each finished with 15 points.  The Barons shot 35.3% from the floor and won the battle of the board, 61-54.

"Considering this was our first game back after a long layoff, I thought we did some good things," said Head Coach Michael Grinder.  "Isabella and Emily had big games offensively, and Cynthia and Taylor were good defensively.  There were definitely a lot of things we need to clean up, though, and you could tell at times that we played like a team that was a little rusty.  But this was a good way to start the semester off."

Geneva will be right back in action on Saturday when the Golden Tornadoes host Waynesburg at 2:00 p.m.  A victory over the Yellow Jackets would give Geneva its best start since joining the PAC ten years ago.

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).