Finishing with a flourish
AG grad Bezjak wrapped up W&J career with first NCAA win, 1,000th point
The Washington & Jefferson women’s basketball team and senior Bryn Bezjak were perilously close to falling just short of two significant goals as the clock ticked down.
The Presidents trailed 24th-ranked Messiah by four points with 15 seconds left in an NCAA Division-III first round tournament game on March 7. W&J’s quest to claim the program’s first NCAA tournament win and Bezjak’s quest to reach the 1,000-point milestone both seemed in serious jeopardy.
Bezjak then came to the rescue.
The Albert Gallatin graduate scored two clutch baskets, a 3-pointer and then a driving layup in traffic just before the buzzer, to help force overtime and the Presidents went on to win 76-72.
“That was amazing,” Bezjak said. “We got to celebrate history. Our first NCAA (tournament) win.”
With the team goal secured, W&J earned one more game, a 78-65 loss to 18th-ranked and host Ohio Wesleyan in which Bezjak made more history, scoring her 1,000th point. She wound up with 10 points in her final game to give her 1,005 for her career.
“The team goal was obviously more important,” Bezjak said. “It just so happened that by reaching the team goal, winning that first tournament game, that wound up helping me reach 1,000. So everything worked out great.”
Bezjak’s senior class also set a school record. Its sparkling 94-16 mark over the past four years is the most wins by one class. W&J also had an amazing 73-5 record in the PAC during that span.
“Bryn had a great career,” Presidents head coach Jina DeRubbo said. “She was a big reason why we won as many games as we did.”
Bezjak had an immediate impact when she got to Washington & Jefferson, coming off the bench to average 6.3 points per game while playing in all but one game. She would start 82 of the next 83 games for the Presidents and average 10.2 points per game over those final three years. She ended her college career with 102 steals, 212 assists and 230 rebounds while shooting 34 percent from the 3-point line and 82 percent from the foul line. A left-handed shooter, Bezjak made 26 of 68 3-point attempts for 38 percent her senior season.
What makes Bezjak’s 1,000-point accomplishment even more impressive was that she filled more of a defensive role for the Presidents.
“She’s kind of the unsung hero on our team,” DeRubbo said. “She was a big scorer in high school (Bezjak also scored over 1,000 points for the Lady Colonials) but what’s surprising is that we turned her into our defensive stopper. She worked so hard and probably has the toughest mentality on our team. She always ended up guarding our opponent’s best player, and she thrived in that role.”
Bezjak’s main goal was to win.
“W&J is a winning program and I accepted my role as more of a defender and the glue person to hold the team together so I really wasn’t focused on scoring as much,” Bezjak said. “In high school, I could score maybe 20, sometimes 30 points a game. At W&J I averaged maybe 10 points a game.
“But it’s been fun playing with a winning team. My main concern wasn’t scoring 1,000 points, all I wanted to do is win championships.”
Washington & Jefferson won the PAC regular-season title all four years Bezjak played but after winning the conference tournament her freshman year, the Presidents fell short the next two seasons.
“We won the PAC (regular season) championship and we actually were the No. 1 team in the conference and even ranked in the country my sophomore and junior year but we got upset in our tournament both years,” Bezjak said. “We finally won the PAC tournament again this year. We finally accomplished what we had been working for. We were coming off a huge high heading into the NCAAs.”
A letdown seemed imminent against Messiah and there the Presidents were, trailing 62-58 with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
“It didn’t look good and I remember looking over at Stella (Loutsion), who’s a junior, and Addy (Cherry), who’s a fellow senior, and I thought to myself I don’t want this to be our last game, I don’t want to be done playing with them yet,” Bezjak said. “We took the ball out and the play wasn’t for me but I was open, they got it to me and I made a 3. I was so nonchalant about it, I didn’t think, I just shot it, and that’s when I do my best when I don’t think and just shoot.”
Bezjak’s 3-pointer cut Messiah’s lead to 62-61 with nine seconds left, and she quickly fouled a Messiah player who made one of two foul shots.
Needing two points to tie, W&J inbounded but the ball was knocked out of bounds, leaving six seconds left. DeRubbo set up another play after a timeout but a deflection called for an improvisation.
“It was supposed to be for Katie Kovalchick, our post player, but the ball got knocked away,
Bezjak said. “She went after it and threw it back to me. I knew there was only a couple seconds left and I said I’ve got to score. I drove in there and threw the ball up and it went in off the glass just before the buzzer.”
DeRubbo recalled Bezjak’s clutch basket.
“It was a broken play but at least the ball ended up in Bryn’s hands,” DeRubbo said. “If there was anyone that was going to get it done in that kind of hectic situation it was Bryn. She’s got that tough mentality and she thrives at driving to the basket and either scoring or drawing fouls.
“It’s not surprising. She’s just that kid who doesn’t get too stressed out when the pressure’s on.”
Bezjak and her teammates rejoiced.
“We all went crazy and I knew when we got to overtime we were going to win that game,” said Bezjak, who came up big in the OT also.
Bezjak was fouled twice on drives to the basket and made all four of her free throws with the final two putting W&J ahead to stay with 2:15 left. Bezjak made another crucial play on a drive to the basket, this time dishing off to Riley DeRubbo, the coach’s daughter, who made the layup for a three-point lead with 29 seconds left.
After two Messiah free throws cut the gap to one, Loutsion made a pair of foul shots with 13 seconds left to put the lead back at three. The Falcons missed a 3-pointer in the closing seconds with DeRubbo, who scored five points in the OT, grabbing the rebound and sinking the clinching free throw with one second remaining.
Coach DeRubbo lauded Bezjak’s late-season performances for her team.
“She made those big shots at the end of our NCAA tournament game, the huge 3, the shot at the buzzer,” DeRubbo said. “In our (PAC) championship game she just made play after play down the stretch. She just killed it.”
The season would end a day later against Ohio Wesleyan although Bezjak would reach her personal milestone by sinking a long jump shot with 5:58 left in the third quarter on a pass from Meghan Dryburgh.
“I made what I thought was a 3 but my foot was on the line so it was a 2, but either way that got me there,” Bezjak said.
“The 1,000 points is something Bryn never brought up to me because I don’t think she wanted to seem selfish,” DeRubbo said. “But I think it was in the back of her mind and was something she really wanted, and I’m happy she got it.”
Bezjak always put the team first which is one of the reasons she was a two-year captain for the Presidents, a role she took seriously.
“It’s tough because I not only have to focus on myself but all the other players on the team, too,” said Bezjak who was a tri-captain along with Cherry and Dryburgh. “I feel the players did look up to me, they watch my every move, they see how I react to situations on and off the court. They’re like my sisters. I love them all.
“Addy and Meghan are my absolute best friends. If I ever get married they’ll probably be my bridesmaids. We all have different personalities but that’s why we all three worked so well as captains.”
Bezjak feels she’s matured significantly during her time at Washington & Jefferson.
“In high school I’d average like 20 points a game and try to do it all myself,” she said. “Then when I got here I eventually realized I didn’t have to worry about scoring so much, I just knew I had to play good defense, get steals, pass the ball, get a shot here and there, and just help my team win, and I was good with that. I also got to where I realized I can’t control everything on the court, I can only control what I can control, and so I’d try to not let other things get in my head.”
DeRubbo helped Bezjak in that approach.
“I love my coach so much,” Bezjak said of DeRubbo. “She would always tell me, ‘Next play Bryn’ to get maybe a bad play out of my head. That was the same off the court as well. Just reflect but don’t dwell about what you did wrong then do better next time.”
Bezjak, the daughter of Carl and Lara Bezjak, also expressed gratitude for her family’s backing over the years.
“I love my mom and dad and my sister Ally (an AG softball great who went on to start at Saint Francis and Bowling Green). They’re always motivating me,” Bezjak said. “And my Grandma (JoAnn Arminas) and my Uncle Joe (Bezjak) as well. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them. They’re my biggest supporters.”
Bezjak looks back fondly on her career at W&J.
“I thought it went so well,” Bezjak said, “and then the way it finished up … I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”