WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team opened the New Year with a strong shooting performance to down visiting Grove City by a commanding 78-49 score in Presidents' Athletic Conference play at the Salvitti Family Gymnasium. 
 
Leading the scoring efforts for W&J was sophomore guard Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) with a game-high 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. 
 
Junior guard Adalynn Cherry (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) continued her strong play with 11 points, five rebounds and a team-best four assists. Rounding out the trio of double-digit scorers was freshman center Katie Kovalchick (Shelocta, Pa./Indiana Area), who scored 10 points and added five rebounds and two blocks in just 13 minutes. Junior guard Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) posted a game-high 12 rebounds. 
 
The Presidents used a high-octane offensive performance to rack up 50 points during the first half of play. The 50 first-half points matched the highest single-game total of the season for W&J. 
 
The Red and Black built an early lead in the wire-to-wire victory. Cherry and Hannah Archer (Lowell, Ohio/Fort Frye) drained back-to-back triples to push the Presidents out to an early 6-0 advantage. A jumper by Dryburgh put the Presidents' lead to 11-7 at the 5:29 mark of the first. A little later in the opening quarter, freshman forward Jaden Wan (Newtown, Pa./Council Rock) drained a three-point field goal that made it 18-11 at 1:46. Grove City scored four of the final six first quarter points to trim the W&J lead to 20-15 after 10 minutes of play. 
 
The Presidents took control of the game in the second quarter. The Presidents outscored the Wolverines by a 30-15 margin during the frame. After Grove City opened the quarter with a field goal, Archer completed a three-point play prior to Cherry tacking on another field goal from long distance that made it 26-17. 
 
Following a Grove City basket, W&J ripped off 10-straight points. A good chunk of points during the run came in the paint. Loutsion capped the run with back-to-back buckets to swell the lead to 36-19 at the 4:49 mark. The lead reached as many as 25 points during the first half. An old-fashioned three-point play by Kovalchick and a three-pointer by Wan pushed the Presidents' lead to 46-21 with 2:55 to play. The Wolverines put together a small run towards the end of the half. However, a late layup allowed W&J to carry a 50-30 lead into halftime. 
 
W&J locked down defensively in the third quarter. The Presidents limited the Wolverines to five points in the quarter. The visitors made 2-of-22 field goal attempts in the quarter. W&J pushed its lead to 31 points with a fastbreak layup by Kovalchick, which made it 64-33 at the 3:01 mark in the third. 
 
Junior forward Sydney Snyder (Loudonville, Ohio/Loudonville) drained back-to-back three-pointers in the middle of the fourth quarter to give W&J's its biggest lead at 77-40. 
 
W&J held large advantages in bench points (47-7), points in the paint (42-24) and fast break points (20-2). 
 
The Presidents shot 49.2 percent from the field as the Red and Black converted 32-of-65 attempts. W&J made 8-of-19 from behind the three-point line (42.1 percent). W&J recorded 21 assists on 32 made baskets Wednesday. The Presidents recorded a season-high 10 blocks in the victory. 
 
Grove City had three players reach double figures. Mara Polcynski led the Wolverines with 12 points.

W&J improves to 11-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play. The loss drops third place Grove City to 5-3 in league games and 6-7 overall. 
 
The Presidents host Saint Vincent College for a conference game on Saturday, Jan. 6. W&J will host Youth Day in conjunction with Saturday's game versus the Bearcats. Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m.