BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It was a cold and snowy day at Geneva on Saturday, and the Geneva College women's basketball team replicated that cold inside Metheny Fieldhouse against Bethany, unable to score enough offensively in a 69-56 loss to the Bison. Senior Mia San Nicolas highlighted the day, though, by scoring her 1,000th career point in the game. Geneva dropped to 6-9 overall, 5-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Bethany improved to 8-6 overall, 6-3 in the PAC.
The women came out ice cold in the first quarter, missing their first seven shots as Bethany jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead in the opening four minutes, forcing Head Coach Michael Grinder to call an early timeout. Geneva responded out of the stoppage, with San Nicolas breaking through with a bucket, followed by a layup and two free throws from junior Taylor Milroy, to close with four points. However, the Golden Tornadoes managed just one more layup from Milroy over the final five minutes of the quarter as Bethany took a 15-8 lead at into the first break.
The Bison extended their lead early in the second quarter, eventually going up 32-15 behind the hot shooting of Lindsey Garrison, the top three-point shooter in the PAC. Garrison made five long range shots in the first half. The Golden Tornadoes responded to the big deficit with eight straight points, capped off by back-to-back layups from junior Mackenzie Barricklow, allowing Geneva to close within 33-23 at the half.
The women pulled within 33-26 in the opening minute of the second half on a traditional three-point play from Milroy, but that was as close at the Golden Tornadoes could get as the Bison slowly extended their lead out to 17 points by the end of the third quarter, 59-42. Freshman Madison Kibler provided much of the offense for the women in the quarter, scoring eight points, including two three-pointers.
The primary drama left was to see if San Nicolas could hit the 1,000-point mark before the final whistle, which she did early in the fourth quarter when she grabbed an offensive rebound and laid the ball in, setting off a big applause from the crowd who was counting down the points that she needed.
San Nicolas led the offense again, finishing with 16 points and 11 rebounds. She is the 14th woman in school history to achieve 1,000 career points, which is even more impressive considering she needed just two and a half seasons to do so. Milroy added 14 points for the women, who shot 24-of-73 (32.9%) from the floor, but just 4-of-31 (12.9%) from three-point range.
Geneva could not find an answer for Garrison in the game, who led the Bison with 27 points, including six three-pointers. Bethany shot just 23-of-69 (33.3%) from the floor, but the Bison made 11-of-30 (36.7%) from long range.
The women will try to get back into the win column next week when they travel to Thiel on Wednesday for their only game of the week. The tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m.
Through purposeful learning in a community reflecting the full spectrum of God's kingdom, a Geneva College experience inspires students to discover a faith-life calling in service to God and neighbor. Offering 195+ traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality and affordability. 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 the International Association for Christian Education (IACE).
