BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It's a good thing the Beaver Falls police department wasn't inside Metheny Fieldhouse on Monday night for the opening round of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) women's basketball playoffs when Geneva hosted Franciscan. Sophomore Cynthia Stewart (Silver Springs, Md./Paint Branch) was stealing things left and right, and her thievery helped ensure the Golden Tornadoes survived a valiant comeback effort from the Barons, 76-73. In the process, Stewart set the single-season Geneva record for steals. With the victory the Golden Tornadoes advanced to the PAC Quarterfinals and improved their record to 10-14, the first time Geneva has hit double digit wins since the 2007-08 season. It was also the women's first playoff win since joining the PAC ten years ago. Franciscan's season ends with a 1-22 record.
Despite Franciscan's ugly record, the Barons came into the game playing their best basketball of the season. The Barons were coming off their first victory of the season last week, a double-digit victory over Thiel, and Franciscan narrowly lost to Geneva two weeks ago.
The first quarter was a rough offensive quarter for both teams. Junior Mia San Nicolas (Sinajana, Guam/Academy of Our Lady of Guam) hit a free throw a minute and a half into the game to score the first point of the game, and a Stewart steal and layup 2:24 into the game was the first basket for either team. A Franciscan layup over three minutes into the game was the Barons' first basket, tying the score at 3-3.
Another Stewart steal and layup gave Geneva a 10-5 lead with 2:26 remaining in the first quarter, but Franciscan closed the period on a 10-1 run, including two three-pointers in the final 22 seconds, giving the Barons a 15-11 lead at the first break.
The Golden Tornadoes didn't get their offense going until a couple minutes into the second quarter. With Geneva trailing 16-11, San Nicolas scored six straight points on four free throws and a layup to give Geneva a 17-16 lead. Two free throws from sophomore Anna Hampshire (Lincoln University, Pa./Oxford Area) a minute later regained the lead for Geneva, 19-18, and the Golden Tornadoes would actually never trail again.
Junior Isabella Roth (Ellwood City, Pa./Ellwood City) followed with a three-pointer to extend the Geneva lead. Franciscan cut its deficit down to two points, 26-24, with 3:18 remaining before half before the Golden Tornadoes closed well. Stewart hit a short jumper, followed by back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore Abby King (New Geneva, Pa./Albert-Gallatin), and within 40 seconds Geneva suddenly had a double-digit lead, 34-24. Stewart followed with another steal and layup to push the Golden Tornado lead to 12 points before two Baron free throws pulled Franciscan within 36-26 at the break.
A three-pointer from sophomore Emily Bucheit (Kane, Pa./Kane) early in the third quarter extended the Geneva lead to 41-27, and it looked like the Golden Tornadoes were ready to pull away. To Franciscan's credit, though, the Barons battled back. Franciscan closed within 51-45 with 2:29 left in the quarter before another three-pointer from King helped Geneva push its lead to 58-49 heading into the final quarter.
The Golden Tornadoes opened the fourth quarter with a 6-2 run, with layups from San Nicolas, Bucheit and Stewart pushing Geneva's lead to 64-51. The Golden Tornadoes could not put Franciscan away, though. Over the next six minutes, Geneva went cold and Franciscan steadily chipped away at the Golden Tornado lead, pulling within two points, 67-65, with 3:27 left. San Nicolas responded with a layup, and the teams alternated buckets before a steal and a layup by Franciscan pulled the Barons even, 71-71, with 2:17 left.
San Nicolas again came through for Geneva with a basket, but Franciscan answered with a bucket of its own. Another layup from San Nicolas gave the Golden Tornadoes the lead back, 75-73, with 1:27 left. Geneva finally got a defensive stop, but two missed Geneva free throws with 20 seconds left gave Franciscan one more shot, and the Barons almost made Geneva pay. Franciscan's Ilena Gonzales got a good look from three-point range with nine seconds left, but the shot rimmed out. Bucheit made one of two free throws with seven seconds remaining, and then Stewart capped off her night with a steal on the final possession of the game, enabling the Golden Tornadoes to hold on for the 76-73 victory.
San Nicolas finished with her 10th double-double of the season, leading Geneva with 23 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Stewart finished with 17 points and 10 steals, giving her 94 steals this season, breaking the previous school record of 92 steals set in 1978-79. Bucheit added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Golden Tornadoes. Geneva shot 36.5% from the floor, including 6-of-26 (23.1%) from three-point range, and the Golden Tornadoes forced 30 Franciscan turnovers.
The Barons finished the game shooting 33.3% from the floor, 5-of-20 (25%) from three-point range. Franciscan outrebounded Geneva 60-47, including 24 offensive rebounds leading to 22 second-chance points. The Barons were led by Felicia MacGillivray, who finished with 24 points.
"We certainly didn't make it easy on ourselves late, but we did enough to pull out a win," said Head Coach Michael Grinder. "I'm really proud of this group for earning their 10th win and also picking up a playoff victory, two stepping stones for our program. And it was really fun to watch Cynthia tonight. She was all over floor and deserves that record with the way she has played defensively this season. Mia was big down the stretch for us as well. Now we'll try to make it two playoff wins tomorrow."
Geneva heads to #2 Westminster tomorrow night for a 6:00 p.m. matchup. The Golden Tornadoes defeated the Titans once this season inside Metheny Fieldhouse, and Geneva will try to replicate that success on the road against the higher-seeded Titans.
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).
