Women's basketball knocks off Geneva in PAC opener, 62-51

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

• Box Score

BETHANY, W.Va. (Nov. 29) - The Bethany College women's basketball team opened conference play with a 62-51 win over Geneva Wednesday night inside the Hummel Field House.

The Bison improve to 1-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) and 1-4 overall. Meanwhile, the Golden Tornadoes fall to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in league play.

Bethany forward Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) registered her second double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds (seven offensive) with three steals in the win. Junior guard Ashley Duthie (Madison, Ohio/Madison) matched a career-high with 15 points and chipped in six rebounds and two steals.

Geneva opened up a 10-5 lead in the first eight minutes of the game and maintained a five-point lead heading into the second quarter. Bethany found some rhythm and took its first lead of the game at 19-18 on a Duthie jump shot with 6:16 left in the first half. The Bison built their lead to five, 23-18, on a steal and fast-break layup by Daugherty that forced a Golden Tornado timeout at the 4:44-mark. Geneva pulled within two points for the majority of the final four minutes, but did not relinquish the lead and took a 27-23 lead into halftime.

Bethany out-scored Geneva 10-to-4 over the opening five minutes of the second half to take a 37-27 lead. The Golden Tornadoes controlled the final five minutes of the third quarter with a 12-6 run to close the gap to 43-39 entering the fourth quarter.

Geneva sliced the lead to two on the first possession of the final period, but Bethany tallied eight-straight points to build a 51-41 advantage with 6:52 remaining in the game. A basket at the 5:33-mark ended a near four-minute drought for the Golden Tornadoes, but the Bison managed to extend its lead to 12, 57-45, with 2:50 left to play and made a trio of free throws in the final minute to secure their first win of the season.

Bethany dominated the glass in the win. The Bison finished with a 47-to-14 rebounding margin, including a 21 offensive rebounds. Those rebounds led to 15 second-chance points for the Bison in the win.

The Green & White were frequent visitors to the foul line. Bethany ended the night 25-of-32 (78 percent) from the charity stripe, compared to the 12-of-15 (80 percent) posted by Geneva.

The Bison will look to make it two in-a-row when they welcome No. 10 Thomas More for a league matchup on Saturday, December 2 at 1 p.m.