The Yellow Jackets of Waynesburg University hosted the Wolverines Grove City College in a Saturday afternoon matchup that saw an exciting rally get stopped by a controversial 10-second violation call, ending with a Grove City (7-6, 4-3 PAC) victory over Waynesburg (1-13, 1-7) 60-55.

The game wasn’t a total loss for the Lady Js. In particular, senior Brooke Fuller reached the career milestone of 1,000 points, the 13 women’s basketball player in Waynesburg history, coming on a layup seven and a half minutes into the first quarter.

“It’s really cool,” Fuller said after the game. “It was really cool how they stopped the game [after the shot] and made it all worth it. I’m really glad all my hard work paid off, and I’m really excited I get to be in the books now as the 13th 1,000point scorer for the Yellow Jackets.”

Assistant coach Andrea Orlosky filled in for head coach Sam Jones for the second-straight game, being unavailable due to COVID-19 protocols. 

“It is just such a great accomplishment to achieve,” Orlosky said. “Just as a coach and as her [former] teammate, I cannot be more happy for her.” 

Grove City got off to a quick start in the game, outscoring Waynesburg 13-2 in the first quarter before Fuller’s aforementioned 1,000th point cut the lead to nine. The Wolverines led 17-8 at the end of the first.

The second quarter saw Grove City’s infamous full-game press defense result in some key turnovers. 

An adjustment was made by Waynesburg as they began to pass the ball more often and move more quickly on offense, allowing Fuller and freshman forward Madison Dayton to cut a 12-point lead to just six in a short rally. The Wolverines maintained their lead, however, and were up 32-24 at halftime.

Fouls were abundant in the third quarter, as each team had five fouls after four minutes into the second half. The Yellow Jackets were able to score on offense, but the Wolverines matched them almost shot-for-shot, keeping out of reach by about 10 points the whole quarter. Entering the fourth, Grove City led 50-40 over Waynesburg.

The fourth quarter saw few points scored for the first three minutes, but Waynesburg went on a rally starting with junior Anika Dansby making her shot to cut the lead to single digits. 

Fuller then hit two free throws from the line, followed by sophomore Avery Robinson getting a steal and score, and finished with Dansby making a three-pointer to get the Yellow Jackets to within two points of the Wolverines. 

This is where controversy happened. Attempting to take the ball up court, Waynesburg was forced by Grove City’s press defense to use up almost all eight seconds they had to get across the half-court line. 

Dansby threw the ball across the line, but as the ball was still in the air after it had crossed the line, the referees blew the whistle, calling it a 10-second violation. This gave control of the game back to Grove City, who went on to win the game 60-55.

“I was obviously pretty upset about [the 10-second call],” Orlosky said. “It is what it is. I’m not going to fight with [the referees]. They make the call, and then we just kind of do with it what we will.” 

The Lady Js will go on the road for their next matchup on Monday against the Chatham University Cougars at 5:30 p.m. in Pittsburgh in the hopes of ending their six-game losing streak.