W&J’s win was inside job by Gordon
The smile on the face of junior center Mya Gordon was maintained for the entire night.
A second didn’t have to tick off the scoreboard for the Washington & Jefferson women’s basketball team, including Gordon, to realize that the Presidents had a sizeable advantage.
As the public address announcer rattled off the starting lineup for Geneva, all 5-7 and smaller, it became clear size wasn’t the strongest asset of the Golden Tornadoes.
Relying on a dominant post presence early, W&J head coach Jina DeRubbo made sure to get the ball in the hands the 6-0 Gordon, whose 18 points and 14 rebounds led the Presidents to a decisive, 88-53, victory over Geneva in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener at Henry Memorial Center Wednesday night.
Gordon’s performance, along with her 11 other teammates who found the score sheet, completed a dominating night in which W&J pulled down 72 rebounds and attempted 93 shots.
“They have some size issues,” DeRubbo said of Geneva. “We wanted to get the ball inside early. We’ve been a post dominant team for years and years, but it’s really important to have good balance.”
As the Golden Tornadoes’ defense continued to be handled underneath, it collapsed to help out, creating space outside for junior Mia Woytovich and senior Taylor Cortazzo to extend a 15-point lead in the first quarter with three consecutive three pointers, giving W&J a 27-11 lead.
“It’s really important that we get off to a fast start, especially at the pace we play,” Gordon said. “It makes things really easier for the rest of the game.”
W&J (1-0, 3-1) continued to look inside for Gordon, sophomore Danielle Parker and junior Rachel Bellhy, making the height disadvantage worse for the Golden Tornadoes.
Geneva made only five of 31 field goals (16 percent) in the first half, as it settled for 13 three-point shots in the first 20 minutes.
“Rachel (Bellhy) is slowly getting back into it because she still isn’t 100 percent,” DeRubbo said. “Mya (Gordon) is getting better every single game. She is such an athlete and continues to do good things on defense, block shots and gain confidence. They are both getting better and better.”
For Gordon, a Washington High School graduate, improvements began with a commitment to play with the quick tempo of the Presidents after recovering from ACL surgery only a few months prior to her freshman season.
“My freshman season I was in really bad shape,” Gordon said. “From then until now, I’ve lost 30 points and am in just much better condition.”
Scoring from inside was only one of the contributions the Presidents’ post players made, as their consistency on the glass allowed for 29 second-chance points on 34 offensive rebounds.
“We shot a lot more three pointers tonight, which is unlike us,” DeRubbo said. “We were able to do a really nice job on the boards tonight. We missed some threes and our post players were able to pull down a lot of rebounds.”
Leading the inconsistent offensive attack for Geneva (0-1, 2-4) was sophomore guard Callie Ford, who was the lone Golden Tornado in double figures with 12 points and five rebounds.
The Presidents, who were able to sit their entire starting lineup in the fourth quarter, had juniors Taley Dunaway and Amirah Moore score in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
“We’ve had several games already where everybody is getting to play and gain experience and confidence,” DeRubbo said. “It’s an advantage to be able to get some of these kids ready before we hit some of the tougher games.”
Men’s Results
Geneva 62, W&J 50: The opportunity to win its first game of the year, and its first Presidents’ Athletic Conference home opener since 2012, slipped away from the W&J men’s basketball team Wednesday night, 62-50 to Geneva at Henry Memorial Center.
W&J had a two-point lead heading into halftime, then gave it up early in the second half. Brian Graytok’s layup with 4:57 remaining gave W&J (0-1, 0-6) a chance to get head coach Ethan Stewart-Smith his second win in 33 opportunities.
However, a 15-3 run by the balanced Golden Tornadoes, who had four players in double figures, extinguished the W&J comeback.
“You have to play for 40 minutes, 20 (minutes) isn’t good enough,” Stewart-Smith said. “That’s going to continue to be the message. We are going to continue to expect more and that every possession matters. We aren’t quite there yet and it showed.”
Geneva (1-0, 4-2), which shot 42 percent from the field, were led by a team-high 15 points from sophomore guard Danny Torok.
W&J was paced by Brian Lindquist’s 18 points and eight rebounds, the only player to score in double figures for the Presidents, who started three freshmen.
“It’s always going to be frustrating when you don’t get the result you’re looking for,” Stewart-Smith said. “That’s part of the process with where we are as a program.”