BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College women's basketball team found itself in a big hole after the first half of its home opener on Saturday afternoon against Allegheny, and despite a late rally by the Golden Tornadoes, Geneva came up short to the preseason North Division favorites in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), 82-74.  Geneva is now 1-5 on the season, 0-2 in the PAC.

Senior Emily Garvin opened the scoring with a bucket.  The Gators responded with five straight points to take their first lead of the game, but the Golden Tornadoes answered back with eight points to grab their biggest lead of the game, 10-5.  Garvin and sophomore Destanie McCullough each scored twice in the stretch.  Allegheny scored the final three points of the quarter to finish off a low-scoring first ten minutes.

The second quarter was the difference in the game.  The Gators added to their run with ten straight points to open the frame, increasing their advantage to 20-10.  Geneva could not get its offense going, while the Golden Tornadoes struggled to slow down the Allegheny attack, and the Gators took a 36-21 lead into the halftime break after outscoring the women 28-11 in the quarter.

Geneva slowly chipped into the deficit in the second half, pulling within single digits, 57-48, on a free throw from freshman Regan Kerr with two minutes left in the third quarter, but a late Allegheny burst over the remainder of the quarter put the women in another double-digit hole, 66-52, heading into the final quarter.

The women spent most of the final frame slowly cutting into the Allegheny lead, pulling within 80-74 on two Garvin free throws with just under a minute remaining, but Geneva eventually ran out of time in falling 82-74.

Garvin and sophomore Alexandra Cozzens led the team, both finishing with double-doubles.  Garvin posted 24 points and 13 rebounds, while Cozzens finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.  Senior Anna Ulmer added eight points and eight rebounds.  Geneva struggled shooting, hitting just 28-of-93 (30.1%) of its shots from the floor, including just 5-of-34 (14.7%) from three-point range.  The women stayed in the game by forcing 23 Allegheny turnovers and pulling down 29 offensive rebounds.

Isabella Antonacci led five Gators in double figures with 24 points.  Allegheny finished the game shooting 30-of-63 (47.6%) from the floor.

The women have a quick turnaround for their next game.  Geneva travels to Kenyon on Monday night for a 6:30 p.m. non-conference tipoff.