Bellhy, late surge help W&J women hold off Waynesburg’s upset bid
W&J’s Alyssa Riley ducks around Waynesburg’s Heather Davis for a shot during the first half of Saturday’s game. W&J defeated Waynesburg, 90-84.
Waynesburg’s BJ Durham goes around W&J’s Brian Lindquist for two points during Saturday’s game.
The Waynesburg University women’s basketball team was just trying to regain its identity Saturday afternoon.
Washington & Jefferson, however, was trying to continue the playoff mode it’s been in since the beginning of the season.
A 29-point performance from standout forward Beka Bellhy and a 15-7 run to end the game for W&J was enough to keep its NCAA Division III playoff hopes alive after a 90-84 win in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game at Henry Memorial Center.
“We need to win all the games we are supposed to win to put ourselves in the best possible position,” said W&J head coach Jina DeRubbo. “In reality, we need to be perfect because we have zero room for error.”
The game plan for W&J (13-1, 18-3) was to take away Waynesburg’s only consistent inside presence, sophomore forward Addy Knetzer, who is the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer and rebounder. Limiting Knetzer would ultimately force Waynesburg to look elsewhere for points.
“Knetzer is a very athletic and dominant player,” said DeRubbo. “She has the ability to take over a game, especially if she has success early. We knew the flipside of that is how dangerous of a three-point shooting team (Waynesburg) can be.”
Knetzer was held in check, finishing with only seven points – half of her average – in part because the Yellow Jackets were having success shooting from behind the arc, connecting on 14 of its 35 three-pointers, including seven by senior Heather Davis.
The Yellow Jackets used their inside game in the third and fourth quarters to generate kick-out opportunities, including three consecutive possessions that resulted in open three-pointers by Davis to tie the score at 66-66 with 7:48 remaining.
“Everyone is going to try and to double-team (Knetzer) with the way she has been playing,” said Waynesburg head coach Sam Jones. “In the first half, we just settled with passing the ball around the arc without the ball ever getting inside. I wasn’t alright with that. I told them at halftime that the ball needs to get in the paint and we have to start going to the hoop.”
With its postseason hopes seemingly ready to take a hit, W&J received a boost from Bellhy, who bailed out the Presidents at the free-throw line. Bellhy was 13 of 15 from the line. As a team, the Presidents made 26 of 30 (84 percent) free throws.
“I think it’s important to have a person on your team that pushes other people, especially when it’s close,” said Bellhy.
After Davis made a three-pointer with 3:37 left to give Waynesburg a 77-75 lead, it looked similar to the game the two conference foes played last year at Henry Memorial Center, when the Yellow Jackets made 15 three-point shots to knock off the Presidents, 79-74.
Rachel Bellhy put the Presidents in the lead for good after finishing a three-point play that gave W&J a 80-77 advantage with 2:57 remaining.
With every game being so crucial for W&J’s chances of at least securing an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, DeRubbo knew how difficult a victory against a team like Waynesburg (7-7, 9-12) was going to come.
“As a coach, you really don’t like to look ahead because as a team you might lose focus as to what’s right in front of you,” she said. “I feel like this was Waynesburg’s conference championship and they were on today. I thought we withheld their best game.”
Despite the loss, Jones knows what he saw from his team was a sign of improvement, an indication that Waynesburg might have found what it’s been searching for.
“We’ve been struggling recently,” he said. “I was pleased with how we played even though I’m not a fan of moral victories. Today, we looked like us for the first time in about three weeks. It reminds us of how we can and should play. It feels good to feel like ourselves again.”
For W&J, it’s just another one down in its 25-game playoff push that started in early November, a road DeRubbo knew the Presidents would most likely have to take with No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Thomas More in the conference. The Presidents host Thomas More (20-0) Saturday.
“We have two chances to make the NCAA tournament, the automatic bid from winning the conference or an at-large opportunity,” said DeRubbo. “It might be easier for us to get an at-large bid than what it would be to win the conference.”
Waynesburg 66, W&J 39: Despite upsetting first-place Saint Vincent Wednesday, it took a long time for the Waynesburg men’s team to get going against Washington & Jefferson.
A 19-2 run in the middle of the first half by Waynesburg gave it a lead it would never surrender as the Yellow Jackets handled W&J, 66-39.
Waynesburg (8-6, 8-13) senior guard B.J. Durham, who scored a team-high 16 points, highlighted the first-half run with four three-point field goals to give the Jackets a 31-15 lead.
W&J (1-13, 1-20) shot only 27 percent from the field. The Presidents only had one player in double figures, Chartiers-Houston graduate Kodie Hanley, who had 11 points.
Waynesburg found scoring from John Knab, who finished with 14 points, and Trinity graduate Christian Koroly’s nine-point performance.