This past week, the Waynesburg University women’s basketball team fell to Washington & Jefferson College (73-44) and Geneva College (73-71). 

The Yellow Jackets played their closest opponent distance wise, Washington & Jefferson, this past Wednesday.

Waynesburg was unable to register a basket from the field in the first quarter with their two points coming from the free throw line. In that time, W&J built a 21-2 lead.

Senior Tori Wesolowski said the game-plan coming into the game was on the defensive side of the ball. 

“We prepared by watching film and trying to replicate their defense in practice,” Wesolowski said. “They’re a tough team and one of the best teams in the PAC right now.”

In the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets were able to cut into the lead, but the Presidents still held a 40-24 point lead at the half. Waynesburg shot just 13% in the first half to W&J’s 48%. 

Waynesburg was only outscored by three points in the second half, but Washington & Jefferson built too high of a hill for the Yellow Jackets to climb. 

Washington & Jefferson defeated Waynesburg 73-44, giving the Yellow Jackets their second largest loss of the season.

“I think we did well lifting each other up on Wednesday,” Wesolowski said. ”It can be hard when we play like how we did, but we need to remember that we are a team first and not to blame each other.”

Waynesburg went into Saturday’s Geneva game 6-8 overall and 2-3 in PAC competition. The Geneva Golden Tornadoes only had four wins coming into the contest. 

The game was tied heading into the half, 35-35. After the third, Waynesburg trailed by four. 

With 4:46 left, Waynesburg’s leading scorer in the game, Kalista Friday, fouled out.

Waynesburg was able to tie the game with under two minutes thanks to two Mohrbacher free-throws. The Golden Tornadoes built a five point lead again in under a minute and they never looked back. 

Waynesburg ultimately fell 73-71. Friday had 16 points, leading the team, along with 13 rebounds. Junior Julz Mohrbacher collected 13 points and 15 rebounds in the game as well. 

“I think we did well defending for the most part and we kept our energy and intensity up the whole game,” Mohrbacher said. “But what contributed [to the loss] sometimes we played the game they wanted us to by rushing some shots and then getting beat back on defense.”

Mohrbacher said the key to winning these conference games the remainder of the season, comes down to playing a full 40-minute game. 

“We just have to finish out games,” Mohrbacher said. “We need to play better defense and smarter offense so that we stop coming down to the wire with a team that we can beat.”

The Yellow Jackets now sit 6-9 overall and 2-4 in PAC play. Their next game is this Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Bethany. 

The Bison come into Wednesday’s contest 9-6 overall, 4-2 in the PAC, winners of their last three.