MARIETTA, Ohio -- A trio of sophomores combined to account for 55 points as the Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team upended 19th ranked Marietta College by a 67-53 score Tuesday evening at Ban Johnson Arena in Ohio. 

Sophomore guard Bryn Bezjak (Uniontown, Pa./Albert Gallatin) led all scorers with a career-high 19 points. Bezjak added a career-best eight rebounds and tallied three assists. Her classmate, Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) filled the stat sheet with 18 points, 13 rebounds, five blocks and four assists.

Sophomore point guard Adalynn Cherry (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) matched her career high with 18 markers. She was exceptional from behind the three-point line, as she drained four-of-five attempts from distance. Cherry added six rebounds and four assists in the victory. 

The highly-anticipated season opener matched up a pair of teams who were picked as preseason favorites in their respective conferences. Marietta, preseason favorites in the Ohio Athletic Conference, entered Tuesday's opener as the No. 19 team in the D3hoops.com preseason poll. The Pioneers returned five seniors and six juniors from a team that won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game last spring. W&J, who dropped a home decision to the Pioneers in last season's lid-lifter, seemed unfazed by the key early season road matchup. The Presidents raced out to an early lead and kept the Pioneers at a distance from a good chunk of the game. 

Cherry gave W&J an early lead with a quick triple. After a Marietta layup cut the W&J lead to 5-4, the Red and Black used 10 consecutive points to push the first quarter lead into double digits (15-4) at the 4:26 mark when Dryburgh connected on a three. A three-point field goal by freshman Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) helped W&J lead 18-11 after the opening stanza. W&J was challenged with some foul trouble in the second quarter. After a layup by Bezjak gave W&J a 28-15 advantage midway through the quarter, Marietta closed the first half on a 14-6 run to trim the W&J lead to 34-29 at the break. 

Marietta cut the W&J lead to 43-41 midway through the third quarter. However, the Presidents answered the call with eight straight points to stretch the lead to 51-41. Dryburgh quickly drained a triple and then found Bezjak on the next W&J possession for a layup in the paint. Junior forward Sarah Berardelli (Ambridge, Pa./North Catholic) finished the run with a three-point play the old fashioned way at the 3:03 mark. 

The Presidents held a 56-49 lead entering the fourth quarter. The W&J defense made sure that would stand up, as the unit limited the Pioneers to just four points (2-of-13 shooting) over the final 10 minutes. 

W&J's length made it difficult on Marietta. The Presidents recorded 11 blocks, five apiece coming from Dryburgh and last year's PAC Defensive Player of the Year Victoria Koeck (Sidman, Pa./Forest Hills). Marietta made just 29 percent of its field goal attempts, including a 4-for-17 effort from behind the three-point line. The Pioneers offensive woes extended to the free throw line, as the home team converted just 9-of-17 attempts at the charity stripe. Paige Tolson led the Pioneers with 11 points off the bench. 

The win snapped a five-game losing streak to Marietta in the head-to-head series. The win over Marietta was thef first for W&J since the 2015-16 season.

W&J (1-0) hosts Ohio Northern as part of the Springhill Suites Tip-off Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 12. Tip off is scheduled for 2 p.m.