The roar of the crowd and the look of shock on the faces of Bethany College Bison were the reactions to the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets’ stunning upset over the Bison with a final score of 70-63.

The Yellow Jackets picked up their fourth win of the season against a Bison team who defeated the Jackets earlier in the season at Bethany 98-79.

In that game, the Yellow Jackets started slow in the first half trailing 61-38 and never recovered. Bethany shot above 50% in that game from three and overall. Lindsey Garrison and Alyssa Serenksy led the way, combining for 43 points. That was back in November.

Fast Forward to Saturday, Bethany came into the game losing two straight games to Westminster College and Allegheny College. As for the Yellow Jackets, they have now won four of their last seven games since starting 0-9.

From tip-off, it felt like the Yellow Jackets were playing off their defensive intensity as they held the fourth-ranked offense in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference to shoot right at 30% for the game and 22% from three-point range.

The Yellow Jackets started off the game on the track offensively shooting 7-14 from the field and defensively forcing Bethany to shoot 4/13 from the field as well. Waynesburg led after the first quarter 19-12.

“We did get off to a really bad start last time against them,” said Head Coach Sam Jones. “We wanted to focus on not getting off to a bad start against them.”

In the second quarter, both the Yellow Jackets and Bison would end trading baskets in the first six minutes. Then Bison would end the half on a 10-4 run to cut the Yellow Jacket lead to 32-29.

The story in the second half would be Waynesburg not giving up the lead to maintain control of the game.

The Yellow Jacket’s defense continued to slow down the Bison offense only allowing 16 points in the quarter on 21% shooting from the field and 20% from the three.

“Our guards did a really nice job,” said Jones. “I know some of the numbers didn’t show. But we set the tone.”

Then in the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets would end up hitting clutch shots after another. It all started with Freshman guards Mia Henkins and Kalista Friday hitting the first two three-pointers of the second half for the Jackets.

Followed by Freshman forward Julz Mohrbacher hitting two tough shots and Senior Marley Wolf picking the best time to knock down her first shot of the game with a three to put the game out of reach.

“She just works hard,” said Jones. “She is a good player and she can do a lot of good things.”

The Yellow Jackets would shut down any Bison run hitting key free throws to solidify the upset.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Yellow Jackets as they will face three of the top teams in the conference over the next two weeks.

Waynesburg’s next conference game is on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, against Washington & Jefferson. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.