Monaca, PA - A rivalry can′t be formed simply based on geography. It can, however, develop when both teams are equally talented and the outcome may change with every meeting. On Tuesday night, a rivalry between the women′s teams from Geneva and Penn State Beaver may have been born as the Golden Tornadoes dropped a 72-65 decision to the Lions for the first time since women′s basketball was reinstated a couple years ago for Penn State. The loss dropped Geneva′s overall record back to 2-2 after coming off an impressive victory over Point Park on Saturday night.
"It was a very difficult start for our team," said interim head coach Renee Drake. "It didn′t feel like we got into the flow until we were 12 or 13 minutes into the game." Geneva turned the ball over 15 times in the first half and 29 times for the game. In addition to not being able to protect the ball was a cold shooting start from the field. The Golden Tornadoes managed only nine field goals in the first half and could not recover in the final 20 minutes.
Geneva trailed by as many as 20 points and some hot second half shooting gave itself some hope but the hole had been dug too deep. The Golden Tornadoes did improve its shooting in the second half and were 17-33 (51%) in the final stanza, but they didn′t help themselves from the foul line. Geneva was just 6-14 from the foul line, while the Lions were making a living from the foul line with 22 makes on 36 attempts.
Geneva′s offense featured three players in double figures including a team high 11 points and six rebounds from Val Hamilton. Renee Rawding chipped in with ten points as did freshman Chelsea D′Urso off of the Golden Tornadoes′ bench.
The Golden Tornadoes will head to Fredonia State on Saturday following a couple days off for the Thanksgiving break. Geneva will then begin PAC play next Wednesday at Washington & Jefferson before returning home on December 5th to face Thiel College.
Geneva College is a comprehensive Christian college of the arts, sciences and professional studies. Founded in the tradition of the Reformed Christian faith, Geneva prepares students to serve Christ in all areas of society: work, family and the church. Geneva College′s philosophy of education is based on the Foundational Concepts of Christian Higher Education. Geneva is a founding member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU).
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