Presidents Fall At Home To Westminster
WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College women’s basketball team dropped a 65-49 PAC decision to Westminster at the Henry Memorial Center on Saturday evening.
The Presidents’ record fell to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play. The Titans earned their first victory of the season and now sit at 1-7 overall and 1-3 in the PAC.
W&J opened the game with five consecutive points, but Westminster answered with a 30-3 run that spanned nearly 13 minutes. The Presidents’ lone basket during the run came on a layup by senior guard Kayla Strimel (Morgantown, W.Va./University) off a feed from classmate Vanessa Rivera (Reading, Pa./Wilson). With the assist, Rivera moved into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time assist list at W&J. She finished the game with five assists and now has 288 during her career. Rivera also contributed six points and three steals.
W&J trailed by 16 at the half, but closed the deficit to nine points with 5:22 remaining. However, the Titans put together a 10-0 spurt to stretch their lead to 63-44 and seal their first victory of the year.
Senior forwards Ashley Kirkpatrick (Sharon, Pa./Kennedy Catholic) and Courtney Walsh (Mill-Hall, Pa./Central Mountain) both scored 10 points to lead the Presidents. Kirkpatrick also added six rebounds.
Westminster was paced by Gabby Holko, who led all scorers with 18 points. Holko drilled six three-pointers, while adding two assists and two steals.
W&J was limited to just 32 percent shooting (17-54), compared to 36 percent (21-58) for the Titans.
The Presidents will take part in the Nassau Sunshine Shootout in the Bahamas on December 19th and 20th. They face Immaculata during the first day of the tournament and Goucher on day two. Both games begin at 4:00 pm.
