Stout defense leads to win for women’s basketball
The Waynesburg women’s basketball team battled the Grove City Wolverines on the road Saturday Dec. 5. The Yellow Jackets entered the contest on a four game losing streak playing against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year.
Waynesburg would end the streak with a 55-43 win over the Wolverines to pick up its first Presidents’ Athletic Conference win of the season.
“It was great to get the win,” said head coach Sam Jones. “The girls played with high energy, which was exciting to see and we met the goal to get the win.”
Grove City pulled ahead 3-0 early in the first quarter, but Waynesburg responded with the next five points. Grove City then fought back to bring the score to 7-7. Waynesburg scored twice more to take an 11-7 lead after the first quarter. The second quarter saw the Yellow Jackets and Wolverines play a close game until the waning minutes. Ahead 13-11, Waynesburg went on an 11-1 run to take a 24-12 led. The half ended with Waynesburg lending 31-19.
“We started out slow, but we picked it up defensively,” said junior guard Katie Gehlmann. “Once we got into a rhythm we played pretty well.”
Gehlmann was a big proponent to the Yellow Jackets keeping the lead in the third quarter. Gehlmann scored nine of Waynesburg’s first 11 points to start the second half.
Waynesburg’s defense then took over in the second half and kept the Yellow Jackets lead in double digits for the remainder of the game. Waynesburg led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
Waynesburg limited the amount of turnovers in the second half compared to the first. The Yellow Jackets committed 11 turnovers compared to 16 in the first half.
“We play an up tempo game,” said Jones. “We are going to make mistakes but trying to limit them is our biggest goal.”
The Jackets’ work on the glass complemented the defense as Waynesburg out rebounded Grove City 54-39 in total rebounds.
“We out rebounded [them], and limited second chance opportunities, which was something we gave up a lot of against Thomas More,” said Jones. “It was great to cut down on those.”
Gehlmann led Waynesburg with a team and game high 10 total rebounds. Gehlmann added 12 points to her 10 boards to record her first collegiate double-double.
“It wasn’t expected, I didn’t think I had ten boards,” said Gehlmann. “It was really exciting to achieve the double-double and do what I can to help the team.”
Senior forward Heather Davis and sophomore forward Addy Knetzer added nine rebounds each.
Davis chipped in five points on 2-8 shooting from the field in her 30 minutes, while Knetzer tallied six points.
Waynesburg’s leading scorer was senior forward Maura Bobby who added a game-high 13 points to the Waynesburg victorious effort.
Grove City was led by senior forward Kathryn Erbelding. Erbelding contributed 11 points, 11 steals and eight rebounds to Grove City’s losing effort and was on the floor for 25 minutes.
Grove City forced 23 turnovers, but couldn’t turn them into points. The Wolverines shot 23 percent from the field.
Ball protection is something Jones hopes to work on moving forward.
“We need to take better care of the basketball,” said Jones. “We also need to fine tune our defensive mistakes and work more on offensive execution.”
Jones thinks this win could be a turning point for the season after picking up Waynesburg’s first conference win and ending a four-game losing streak.
“I hope it is a turning point game,” said Jones. “It is a focus point game, where if you put in the focus you will get the result you want.”
The Yellow Jackets look to continue their winning ways Saturday at home against the winless Westminster College Titans, who have dropped six straight overall and two consecutive PAC games to start the 2015-16 campaign.
Jones looks for strong defensive play to lead the way against the Titans.
“We need to play defensively sound,” said Jones. “Win the battle of the boards and execute plays on both sides of the ball.”
In addition to strong defense, the Jackets look to win the procession battle.
“We need to take care of the basketball,” said Gehlmann. “Then we just have to play as a team and execute plays.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.