Yellow Jackets upend PAC-favorite Geneva
Geneva is the defending Presidents’ Athletic Conference men’s basketball champion and was picked last month as the preseason favorite for this year. However, things haven’t gone as expected for Golden Tornadoes.
Waynesburg University earned its first victory of the season Saturday by defeating Geneva, 65-62, keeping the Golden Tornadoes winless.
The Yellow Jackets’ Antone Baker scored 17 points and Casey Keesee had all of his 14 points in the second half. Waynesburg (1-1, 1-4) overcame a double-digit first-half deficit and took the lead for good at 64-62 on a layup by Baker with 40 seconds remaining.
Mark Rachic led Geneva with 17 points.
Shepherd 66, California 62 – Jarod Robinson led four Shepherd players in double figures with 17 points and the Rams slowed down California and upset the Vulcans in a PSAC game.
Cal lost for the first time. The Vulcans are 1-1 in the PSAC and 6-1 overall. Shepherd is 2-0, 4-2.
The Vulcans led 25-22 at halftime and by as many as eight points in the second half. Shepherd took the lead for good at 40-38 with more than 10 minutes remaining. It was in the middle of a pivotal 19-3 run by the Rams.
Donald Whitehead paced Cal with 22 points. Kadyn Hannah had 12 and Cam Polak 10. High-scoring Keith Palek (18.8 ppg) did not play for the Vulcans.
Women’s basketball
Geneva 86, Waynesburg 80 – Waynesburg University rallied from a double-digit first-half deficit but was edged late at Geneva in the PAC.
Both teams led by double digits, Geneva (1-0, 4-2) in the first half and Waynesburg (0-2, 4-2) in the second half.
After Geneva went up 75-73, Waynesburg’s Jules Mohrbacher tied the score with 3:48 remaining. Geneva, however, scored on four consecutive possessions to go up by eight points.
Emily Garvin scored 21 points for Geneva. Waynesburg’s Kalista Friday tossed in a game-high 22 points. Mia Henkins and Madisen Dayton each had 12.
California 70, Shepherd 52 – Talia Gilliard scored 16 points, Alicia Young added 14, including her 1,000th career point, and California defeated Shepherd in a PSAC game.
Cal (1-1, 4-3) led 33-28 at halftime and took control by outscoring Shepherd 22-11 in the pivotal third quarter.
Sierra Bermudez scored 13 points for Cal. Shepherd (0-2, 2-4) was led by Carmaya Bowman’s 10 points.
Friday’s games
California 85, Millersville 76 – Cam Polak scored 10 of his game-high 26 points in the final six minutes as undefeated California pulled away down the stretch for a victory over Millersville in the PSAC men’s basketball opener for both teams.
Cal (1-0, 6-0) led 71-70 with six minutes remaining. That’s when The Vulcans went on a pivotal 8-2 run to open a 79-72 edge with 3:26 left.
Polak scored four points in the spurt, as did Donald Whitehead, who finished with 21 points.
The Vulcans sealed the win at the free-throw line, from where they made 28 of 36 for the game and 18 of 22 in the second half.
Cal put four players in double figures. Keith Palek had 10 points, as did Kadyn Hannah. Polak grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.
Millersville (0-1, 4-2) had five players score in double figures, led by Aamir Hurst’s 18 points. Drew Stover had 17. The Marauders had only five points from its reserves.
Women’s basketball
Millersville 68, California 57, OT – Kali March tossed in 20 points and Makiah Shaw scored 13 of her 18 after halftime as Millersville rallied for a 68-57 overtime win over California in a PSAC game.
Cal (0-1, 3-3) led 25-24 at halftime and 49-43 with 4:30 remaining in regulation. Millersville (1-0, 4-1) battled back and tied the score at 53-53 on a three-pointer by Kali March with 21 seconds remaining. Cal missed a three-pointer ahead of the buzzer.
Millersville opened overtime by scoring eight of the first nine points and never trailed in the extra session.
Cal’s Alicia Young scored a game-high 22 points, including 16 after halftime. The Vulcans shot only 26 percent for the game and made just 1-of-9 shots in overtime.