WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team put together a big second half and staved off a late rally by Ohio Wesleyan University to earn a 58-57 victory Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Hampton Inn by Hilton Women's Basketball Tip-off Tournament at Salvitti Family Gymnasium.
The marquee non-conference matchup pitted the Presidents against the Battling Bishops, who earned the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament Championship and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament last season. Both teams were receiving votes in the respective preseason polls from D3hoops.com and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The game certainly lived up to the billing.
The game started pretty evenly matched with both teams trading points throughout the first quarter ending with Ohio Wesleyan ahead by one, 13-12. After the Presidents claimed the first two points of the second quarter, the Battling Bishops went on an a run to stretch its lead to 25-17 at the 6:26 mark of the second quarter. The two teams traded points for the remainder of the half and the visitors took a 34-26 lead into halftime.
Just as they did Friday night in a win over Carnegie Mellon, the Presidents used a strong third quarter performance to turn the momentum of the game. Bryn Bezjak (Uniontown, Pa./Albert Gallatin) opened the scoring with a wide open triple from the right corner. After a basket by OWU, the Red and Black used a 13-1 to surge into the lead. A jumper by Bezjak and a three-point field goal by Adalynn Cherry (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) made it 42-37 W&J at the 4:32 mark.
OWU would battle back and tie things up at 42 with a minute and thirty-three left in the quarter. W&J would make a bucket and a free throw before Ohio Wesleyan would end the quarter with a buzzer beater two-point field goal to head into the final quarter trailing W&J by one, 45-44.
The Presidents would start quickly again in the fourth quarter. Bezjak accounted for the first five points of the final quarter before a three-pointer by Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) swelled the lead to 53-44 with six minutes to play.
Over the course of the last few remaining minutes OWU would chip away at W&J's lead. Bezjak made a three-pointer with 3:16 to play to move the lead to 58-50. The Presidents were unable to score for the remainder of the game and would need to hold off a late rally for the win. A three-pointer by OWU with 1:06 to play trimmed the W&J lead to 58-57. After an offensive foul by W&J gave OWU possession, the visitors had three cracks at the the go-ahead basket.
The Battling Bishops would put up the first rogue shot at the near expiration of their shot clock, which would then bounce out of bounds off of a nearby president. The next shot would come once again close to the expiration of OWU's possession. The crowd seemed to hold their breath as the shot let off with seven seconds left on the game clock, seemingly on target, but quickly erupted with energy when it had missed it's mark and bounced off of the back of the rim, allowing Dryburgh to come away with the rebound to help W&J preserve the win.
Although Ohio Wesleyan led in points off turnovers and second chance points W&J held firm inside as they outscored the visitors 30-20 inside.
Sarah Berardelli paced the Presidents with 14 points on seven-of-nine shooting. Dryburgh finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for yet another double double. Cherry led W&J with five assists.
Dryburgh earned Tournament MVP honors and a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Berardelli joined Dryburgh with all-tournament honors.
W&J opens Presidents' Athletic Conference play at home against Westminster College on Wednesday Nov. 15. Start time is set for 6 p.m. in the Salvitti Family Gymnasium.