Dec 28, 2014 2 min read

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Beka Bellhy scored a game-high 24 points to power Washington & Jefferson College’s women’s basketball team to a 76-62 victory over Hiram at the Smokey Ballenger Classic hosted by Otterbein University.

The win was the seventh in a row for W&J, which improved its record to 9-1. It is W&J’s best start since the 2008-09 season.

Hiram, which is coached by former W&J player and assistant coach Emily Hays, entered the game with a 4-0 record against Presidents’ Athletic Conference opponents but fell to 4-7 overall. Hays played on W&J’s 2008-09 team and was the PAC Player of the Year that season.

W&J erased an early five-point deficit and forged a 15-point lead at halftime. Bellhy scored 11 of her points in the first half, when the Presidents shot 52 percent from the field and put together a 15-0 run to take a 34-17 lead.

Hiram, which received a career-high 21 points from freshman Mercedes Jones, pulled to within 46-41 in the second half, but nine consecutive points by W&J pushed the margin back to double figures. Bellhy scored seven of the nine points. Hiram could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Taylor Cortazzo scored 16 points and had four assists for W&J, and Danni Medovich had 10 points. Valerie Dunlap blocked seven shots, one shy of her career high.

W&J will host Waynesburg in a PAC game Saturday at 1 p.m.