GREENVILLE, Pa. (January 18) – The Waynesburg University women's basketball team continued its winning ways with a 91-75 triumph at Thiel on Saturday afternoon.
The Jackets are winners of three out of their past four games. Waynesburg's record rises to 9-7 overall and 4-7 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). Thiel falls to 0-16, 0-11 PAC.
Waynesburg posted its second-highest point total of the season and made 13 threes at 37.1 percent, the second-most in a single game this season. The Jackets racked up 65 bench points and finished plus-six in the turnover margin (18-12).
Thiel built an early 11-6 edge in the first quarter with a pair of Kara McFadden (Painesville, Ohio / Fairport Harding) threes accounting for all of Waynesburg's scoring in the first six-plus minutes of play. Waynesburg answered with three-pointers by Aubrey Burns (Kittanning, Pa. / Armstrong), Macie Justice (Washington, Pa. / Trinity) and McFadden. Justice's second trey of the quarter handed the Jackets an 18-17 lead. Thiel clung to a 21-20 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Five players scored for Waynesburg in an 11-5 run to begin the second period. The Jackets went ahead 31-26 on McFadden's fourth three-pointer of the game with 6:27 left in the half. McFadden added four more points in a late 8-3 spurt that put the Jackets up 10 (42-32). Madison Platt (Follansbee, W.Va. / Brooke) drained a three in the final minute before the break as Waynesburg carried a 45-36 lead into halftime.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Mia Henkins (Morgantown, W. Va. / Morgantown) and Clara-Paige Miller (Waynesburg, Pa. / Waynesburg Central) pushed the Jacket lead to 51-39 early in the third quarter. A pair of layups by Madisen Dayton late in the third gave the Jackets a 13-point lead at 64-51.
Thiel trimmed its deficit to eight (64-56) in the opening minute of the first quarter. Julz Mohrbacher (Freedom, Pa. / Freedom) sank a jumper and Justice added another three to push the lead back to 13. Miller and Henkins combined for a 7-0 run that extended Waynesburg's lead to 19 (81-62) with 5:30 to play in regulation.
Thiel made a late 13-4 push to get back within 10 (85-75) with two minutes to play. The Jackets handled Thiel's press and took care of business at the foul line to close out the win.
McFadden scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and went 4-for-8 from three and 4-for-4 from the foul line. She added six rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Miller and Justice each had 11 points. Miller added four rebounds and Justice shot 3-for-6 from three and established a career high for the second-straight game.
The Jackets travel to Bethany on Wednesday.