Nov 16, 2016 4 min read

In meetings with last year, head coach Jina DeRubbo was blatantly honest in telling her Washington & Jefferson College women’s basketball team there was a better chance to make the NCAA Tournament than winning the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

Even after a year in which they finished 24-6 and 16-2 in the conference, DeRubbo and the Presidents were left empty-handed of a conference championship and tournament bid.

“We had a great season last year and had a lot of fun doing it,” she said. “Our goal is to make the NCAA Tournament. It was pretty disappointing when three of our losses were to the undefeated national champions (Thomas More) and two teams that did receive bids, Carnegie Mellon and LaRoche.”

Though W&J was picked to finish second in the preseason coaches’ poll behind Thomas More, who received nine of 10 first-place votes, it has to achieve that lofty feat without the presence of dependable forward Beka Bellhy.

Bellhy, a Fort Cherry graduate, played the most games in program history at W&J (117) and finished third all-time in scoring with 1,602 points. She ended her senior season averaging a team-high 19.3 points per game, eight rebounds and had 47 blocks.

“We were a team that put up a lot of points last year,” DeRubbo said about the Presidents, who were 10th in Division III by averaging 77.4 points per game. “However, over the last several years, our weakness has been defense. We’ve lost plenty of games when we score more than 80 points and that’s just unacceptable. It’s something we have and will continue to spend a lot of time on.”

Attempting to fill the void left by Bellhy, who also led the country in free-throw attempts (229) and made free throws (179), will be sophomore Danielle Parker and junior Rachel Bellhy, Beka’s younger sister.

Parker, a Canon-McMillan High School graduate, started 11 games and averaged slightly more than 15 minutes per game, finishing fifth on the team in points (6.7) and third in rebounds (5.5).

“Danielle got a ton of experience in her freshman season and we are expecting another big year from her,” DeRubbo said. “The coaching staff laughs because she has a knack for being in the right place at the right time, even though she might not even mean to be there. The game comes pretty easy for her. She is crafty under the basket.”

Most assuring to DeRubbo is the experience W&J has in the backcourt with seniors Taylor Cortazzo and Danni Medovich. They join last year’s leading returning scorer junior Amirah Moore, who averaged 10.5 points.

“We’re running the same system and still have players who can put up a lot of points,” DeRubbo said. “We may not have that 20-point scorer but on any given night, we can have multiple scorers. We always talk about what is and what is not a good shot. Having guards who can get to the rim will also protect us from being a team that shoots 25 three pointers each game.”

The Presidents will begin their season at 8 p.m., Friday against Case Western Reserve in the Springhill Suites Tournament at Henry Memorial Center, a game in mid-November perceived to be much more crucial to DeRubbo than just another first game.

“The biggest roadblock that everybody in our conference has to get over is Thomas More,” she said. “You have to go into those games with a game plan and the expectation to win. You always want to be in the game and hopefully things go your way in the end, but that’s what you prepare for your entire season. There is no margin of error in this conference because we don’t typically get that second bid. There is no time for an off night.”