This past Saturday, the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets hosted the winless Thiel Tomcats on Senior Day and Alumni Day in the final game of the 2024-25 season. 

The Yellow Jackets entered the contest having won their last road contest of the season against the Franciscan Barons.

Waynesburg 75 Tomcats 63

The Yellow Jackets got good starts from senior Madisen Dayton, junior Kalista Friday, sophomore Kara McFadden, and junior Tori Wesolowski, who combined to score Waynesburg’s first 21 points in the opening quarter. However, Thiel would finish the quarter on an 11-4 run to cut the Yellow Jackets lead to 21-19. 

In the second quarter, the Tomcats would continue their momentum and outscore Waynesburg University 21-16 in the quarter to take a 40-37 lead into halftime. Thiel in the quarter, would shoot 5-10 from behind the arc while the Yellow Jackets would shoot 2-8.

The Yellow Jackets shot 13-33 from the field, and 5-15 from behind the arc in the first half. Dayton and sophomore Julz Mohrbacher led all Waynesburg scorers in the first half, while Thiel’s Issy Green would lead all scorers with 12 points. 

“We knew that we weren’t playing poorly and that all we needed was to lock it what we have been working on all year long,” Dayton said. 

Thiel scored 10 unanswered points in the first five minutes of the second half to go up by double digits. But it was the Yellow Jackets who would click offensively in the final five minutes of the third quarter, going on a 15-8 run to cut the deficit to two. 

Waynesburg University would put Thiel away in the final quarter. The Yellow Jackets would allow only five points in the entire quarter while scoring 19 to beat the Tomcats by twelve, 75-63. 

“After the talk we had at half time about effort,” senior guard Raylee Furlong said. “We came out supporting each other and giving our full selves on the court.” 

Madisen Dayton once again led Waynesburg scorers with 18 points, hitting 8 of 13 shots and five of six free throws. The other Waynesburg players that reached double figures in scoring were Julz Mohrbacher, Kara McFadden, and Mia Henkins. The Yellow Jackets would shoot 40-percent from the field and 28-percent from the three-point line.

“Attention to detail,” head coach Sam Jones said. “Just had to lock down a couple things defensively, but for the most part had to buckle down to attention to detail.”

Waynesburg finished the season 14-11 and 9-11 in conference play. The team finished with an overall record above .500 record for the first since the 2017-18 season, which was also the last time Waynesburg had a winning record in conference play.