GROVE CITY, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College women's basketball team battled through a tough shooting night from the field to earn a 60-53 road victory over Grove City Wednesday evening in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at the College Arena in Mercer County.

The victory extends the Presidents' winning streak to 13 games overall. W&J is 22-2 overall and 18-1 in the conference. The Red and Black can secure the top seed in the upcoming PAC Tournament with a win Saturday in the regular season finale. The loss drops the Wolverines to 11-13 overall and 10-9 in the PAC.

The Presidents earned the victory despite converting at a season-low 28.6 percent clip on field goal attempts Wednesday. A strong shooting night at the free throw line helped the Presidents prevail. The Red and Black, the best free throw shooting team in the PAC, made 18-of-21 (85.7 percent) shots from the charity stripe. Defensively, the Presidents were able to limit the Wolverines to 30.9 percent shooting from the field (21-of-68).

Adalynn Cherry (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) paced the Presidents with a team-high 15 points. Cherry made a trio of three-pointers while adding seven rebounds, a pair of assists and committed just one turnover. Stellanie Loutsion (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) joined Cherry in double figures with 12 points. Meghan Dryburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) chipped in eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

W&J struggled throughout the early going to make shots. The Presidents made just three-of-13 attempts in the first quarter. The Red and Black were able to hold a 15-12 lead after the opening 10 minutes in large part to strong free throw shooting. The Presidents were eight-of-nine at the charity stripe in the opening quarter. A pair of free throws each by Dryburgh and Kiyanna Dowling (York, Pa./York Suburban) made it a three-point lead for the Presidents after one quarter.

The Presidents used a strong start to the second quarter to build a 20-12 lead. Five-straight points by Loutsion to open the frame stretched the lead to eight points. The Wolverines answered with five-straight points of their own before Loutsion buried a step-back three-point field goal to make it 23-17 Presidents at the 4:09 mark. The Presidents continued to lead for the remainder of the half. A field goal by Dryburgh with 56 seconds left allowed W&J to hold a 27-24 lead at the halftime break.

Despite shooting just 25 percent in the first half, W&J was able to carry the lead into the break. Grove City was 0-for-10 from three-point range over the first 20 minutes.

Both offenses were able to get things going in the third quarter. The Presidents continued to hold the advantage throughout the frame. Leading by just two points at 34-32, W&J was able to gain some separation with a 9-1 run. Wan and Cherry accounted for all nine points during the spurt. A pair of layups by Wan were sandwiched by a layup and a three-pointer by Cherry. The run made it 43-33 W&J with 1:27 to play in the third. A layup on the Presidents' final possession of the quarter by Dryburgh ensured a 45-37 lead after three quarters.  

A triple by Hannah Archer (Lowell, Ohio/Fort Frye) stretched W&J's lead to eight early in the fourth. The three-pointer by Archer extended the lead to 50-42 at the 7:46 mark. The Wolverines were able to trim the deficit back to a single point during a four-plus minute scoreless stretch by the Presidents. Cherry converted a pair of free throws with 2:54 to move the lead back to three at 52-49. The Presidents were able to string together defensive stops and extend the lead to 56-49 after a pair of free throws by Bryn Bezjak (Uniontown, Pa./Albert Gallatin) and a jumper by Cherry with 24 seconds to play. The shot by Cherry was essentially a dagger, as the make came after the Wolverines elected to play things out defensively. The teams exchanged points down the stretch but the Presidents secured the conference road win.

Grove City outscored W&J by a significant 38-22 margin in the paint. The Wolverines also put together a 52-43 rebounding advantage. The Wolverines were led by Kat Goetz, who tossed in a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds.

The Presidents close the regular season with Senior Day versus Allegheny College on Saturday, Feb. 17. Start time at Salvitti Family Gymnasium is set for 1 p.m.