The last time the Waynesburg University women’s basketball team took the floor against Geneva, Jan. 13, the Yellow Jackets found themselves trailing the Golden Tornadoes 35-34 on the road at halftime.

Coming into the game, Geneva was just 4-10 overall and 1-6 in Presidents’ Athletic Conference action, while the visiting Jackets entered Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, with a 9-5 overall record and 5-2 conference record. Waynesburg needed a jump-start in order to avoid the conference upset, and found that in the third quarter.

The Yellow Jackets exploded out of the gate to start the second half, jumping out to an 18-4 run that snagged Waynesburg the lead back and saw its lead extend to 52-38. From that point on, Waynesburg built all the way up to a 16-point advantage en route to a comfortable nine-point win, 80-71.

For head coach Sam Jones, the biggest difference between the first half and the beginning of the second half was something that he has reiterated for a majority of the season: focusing on the little things.

“Really for us, it’s about attention to detail. In the third quarter, we came out with high energy and paid attention to the details, and I don’t think we did a decent job of that in the first half, which is why it was a little closer,” Jones said.

Senior forward Addy Knetzer had arguably her best statistical game of the season against the Golden Tornadoes, pouring in her second-highest total for points, 28, and grabbing her highest rebound total, 15 of the season. Jones feels that Geneva is a good matchup for Knetzer based on their lack of size.

In addition to Knetzer, junior point guard Monica Starre had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards, and senior Mackenna Drazich and junior Julie Deklaven added 12 points each in the win.

Leading the way for Geneva in points was senior guard Jodie Carlson with 21, and following right behind her were freshman forward Lauren Tipton and senior guard Callie Ford, who both had double-doubles on the afternoon with 16 and 14 points, respectively, and 10 rebounds each.

One of the focal points for the upcoming matchup in the final game of the regular season against the Golden Tornadoes will be keeping Ford, who is currently top-five in the PAC in scoring and rebounding, in check.

“[There are] two things [you have to do to keep her in check]: you have to keep her in front of you and contest all of her shots as much as possible, and you have to box her out, because she’s a relentless crasher,” said Jones.

Entering this final regular season game, Geneva will be looking to hold onto their playoff spot as they currently stand in the bottom four of the PAC, but are in the playoff picture as of publication date. That said, Jones knows that his team cannot take the Golden Tornadoes for granted.

“Geneva is very improved. They’re a good team, and they’re not someone to be taken lightly,” Jones said. “For us, we just need to play with high energy and attention to details—making sure we’re doing our job, and typically things will take care of themselves.”

Jones also said that a driving factor of the game will be entering the PAC playoffs playing as well as they have all season.

“We’ve been stressing to be playing our best basketball going into the playoffs. So, I think we’re already in that mindset of ‘it’s that time of year,’” he said. “We’re just trying to go into the playoffs on a high note playing good basketball.”

With this final game of the regular season being at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse, the Yellow Jackets will celebrate senior day as well.

“It’s senior day, so we will just look forward to honoring our seniors. It’s a good class of hard workers who’ve put in a lot of hours of basketball and have had some good careers,” Jones said. “So, just looking forward to honoring our seniors that day.”

Tip-off for the PAC affair is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17.