Waynesburg, PA - The defensive effort was there for the Geneva College women′s basketball team at Waynesburg on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the offensive woes continued for the Golden Tornadoes in a 64-54 loss to the Yellow Jackets. The loss was Geneva′s third straight as the Golden Tornadoes fell two games below the .500 mark at 7-9 for the first time all season.
The trend of solid first halves continued for Geneva on Wednesday as they trailed 12-4 Waynesburg by just two points at 30-28 at the halftime buzzer. The Golden Tornadoes held Waynesburg to 30% from the field in the first half but had little answers for Elisha Jones, who scored 17 of her 22 points in the first 20 minutes. Geneva did a better job on Jones in the second half, but the offense for Geneva did not respond in kind. "We did exactly what we wanted to do on defense," said Geneva head coach Renee Drake. "We worked extremely hard on that end of the floor but again we could not get shots to fall." Geneva shot just 32% from the field for the game including a 3-13 effort from three-point range. "We had some really good looks at the basket, especially in the second half but the ball just will not fall for us."
Four of Geneva′s starting five players reached double figures for the game but the Golden Tornadoes′ bench accounted for only five points in the game. Alyse Scarsella led the way with 14 points and eight rebounds. Beth DeLuca scored 11 points while Val Hamilton and Christine Carugati each finished with ten points. "Our starters did play a lot of minutes tonight, but we still need to get our bench more involved offensively. We can′t rely on three or four players to carry the offense."
Geneva will try to get back into the win column on Saturday afternoon when it travels to Washington & Jefferson in a rematch from a Geneva overtime victory back in December. The Golden Tornadoes will return home next Wednesday to host Thiel College at 5:30 pm.
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).