Brady's Roadhouse

The Waynesburg University Men’s and Women’s basketball teams are both matched up against Thiel this Saturday.

The men’s basketball team is on the road against the 2-4 Tomcats in Greenville, PA at 1 p.m.. Waynesburg has been able to come away with wins in three of its last four games, improving its record to 3-4. Men’s Head Basketball Coach Tim Fusina said the recent success has come because the team has “defended a lot better” and is “rebounding better.”

Last time the men took the court was last Saturday at Washington & Jefferson, picking up a 61-55 win against a President’s team battling for the top spot in the conference. 

The latest Jacket win shows just who this team truly is according to their head coach. 

“We’re committed to playing the right way and when we’re playing well, we can beat anybody,” Fusina said.

Some players, like Junior Jake Benhart believe the Yellow Jackets could have played even better.

 “We missed a lot of shots, definitely around the hoop too, you know,” Benhart said. “We had a couple mistakes where we didn’t communicate and they got easy buckets and we were still able to win.”

Benhart also mentioned that playing good defense and playing together enables the Yellow Jackets to win against good teams, even when the team is not playing at its best.

“Going into this game [Thiel] we’re treating it a lot like other games where we’re just trying to play better than we did in our last game and build on that,” Benhart said.

Waynesburg’s last game and upcoming game are a full week apart. Coach Fusina expressed that he prefers playing Wednesday’s and Saturday’s, but he does not see the extended time affecting the Thiel game positively or negatively.

The women’s basketball team is staying at home in the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse for their matchup against the Tomcats. The Lady Jackets have a record of 0-7 on the season, and Thiel is 1-5.

Waynesburg has battled a shortage of roster options throughout the season. Just nine women are on the roster, and injuries and COVID-19 has made some games see even less players available.

It has been a uniquely difficult season for Women’s Basketball Head Coach Sam Jones. 

“This entire year has been a challenge, nothing has seemed normal… sometimes you can’t even plan until you get to the gym,”Jones said. “The girls have done a great job of showing up to the gym.” 

Jones believes the team cannot worry about what the opponent’s record is, but simply try to pick up their first win of the season.  

“We want to play with a focused energy and passion and win the battle on the boards,” said Jones.

Senior guard Andrea Orlosky comes into the game with 986 career points. Orlosky is averaging 15.9 points per game this season, and 14 points in the Thiel game would make her the 12th Lady Jacket to reach 1,000 career points scored.

The women’s game will be live streamed on the WUDP YouTube page with Riley Holsinger and Adam Morgante announcing. Bruce Davidson and Joe Veneziale will call the action of the men’s game on WCYJ-FM.

Both games tip-off at 1 p.m.