Van Zanic
Director of Sports Information
(724) 847-6886
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2008
HAPPY HOMECOMING, GALBREATH RETURNS
TO WESTMINSTERIN GRAND STYLE
Beaver Falls, PA - Eight years ago, Ron Galbreath coached his final game at Buzz Ridl Gymnasium on the campus of Westminster College concluding a 25-year run as the head coach for the Titan′s men′s program. On Wednesday night, Galbreath returned for the first time as the head coach of Geneva′s women and it turned out to be well worth the wait. Galbreath watched his team dismantle Westminster to the tune of 73-46. The victory helped Geneva′s women improve to 14-2, while the Titans dropped to 11-5.
Galbreath had seen his Geneva team drop a decision to Westminster back in 2003, but tonight′s match-up marked the first appearance back on campus for Galbreath, who picked up his 627th career victory in Wednesday′s win.
Geneva didn′t exactly jump out of the gate on Wednesday night. In fact, three minutes into the game, the Golden Tornadoes found themselves trailing 10-1. A few minutes later, Geneva was down by the count of 18-10. It was at that point that leading scorers Renee Rawding and Allyson Clarke went to work. Geneva finished the half on a 29-10 run to take a 39-28 advantage into the locker room. The lead grew quickly as the Golden Tornadoes scored the first eight points of the second half and cruised the rest of the way.
Renee Rawding led the offense with 27 points, including a 6-8 shooting effort from behind the three-point arc. While Rawding was busy outside the arc, Clarke did most of her damage in the paint. The senior forward finished with 24 points and nine rebounds, including 10-12 from the foul line. Michawn Rich added ten points and eight rebounds in the victory. Westminster got 16 points from Emilee Ackerman, the conference′s leading scorer. However, Ackerman was held to just four points in the second half.
The top ranked Geneva defense held an opponent under 50 points yet again and saw its defense average dip under 50 for the first time all season.
Geneva will put that defense to another test on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Grove City to take on the Wolverines at 1:00 pm. The Golden Tornadoes will return home a week from Saturday to host Bethany College.