Women’s basketball rolls past Thiel at home
By Garrett Gess · Contributing Writer
The Grove City College women’s basketball team is eyeing a PAC championship and is off to a strong start to the season, taking down Thiel 58-39 in a home victory on Jan. 21.
The Wolverines are tied with Allegheny at the top of the PAC South with a 5-3 conference record.
Against Thiel, senior center Meredith Sherrerd recorded a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double, and sophomore forward Kailey Devlin added a career-high 13 points in the Wolverines’ win.
Grove City raced out to a 23–4 lead after the first quarter and extended the advantage to 29–9 early in the second. Junior guard Alexa McDole fueled the fast start by scoring eight points in the opening quarter, adding to the Wolverines’ 53% shooting (9-of-17) from the field in the first 10 minutes.
Senior guard Reese Hasley finished with eight points, along with three assists and three steals for Grove City. Junior guard Bethany Thompson contributed seven rebounds as the Wolverines held a 49–39 edge on the boards. Grove City’s relentless defense also limited Thiel to 23% shooting (14-of-61) from the floor.
“I think one of our biggest strengths on the floor is our defensive intensity. When we’re communicating and rotating together as one unit, everything else starts to click. That defensive effort creates more opportunities on offense and allows our game to flow more naturally,” sophomore forward Alexis Hudson said.
Thiel cut the deficit to 34–23 at halftime and narrowed the gap to 42–34 by the end of the third quarter. Grove City put the game away with a 12–3 run over the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. Devlin scored the first six points of the run and later knocked down a three-pointer, while Sherrerd added a basket and a free throw en route to an eventual victory.
On Saturday, Grove City fell to St. Vincent, who are undefeated in conference competition and have the best record in the PAC. The Wolverines had a 28-26 halftime lead but could not stay ahead, dropping the 61-48 decision to the Bearcats.
The trio of Sherred, Hasley and Hudson are in the top three among the team thus far in both points and rebounds. The team has seen the emergence of a trio of underclassmen sharpshooters — Hudson, Devlin and freshman guard Emily King — who have each shot above 35% from behind the arc on at least 15 attempts.
The Wolverines look to finish the regular season strong and set themselves up with momentum going into the playoffs.
“I think the keys to our success are bringing high energy every day and being excited about the opportunity to compete for a PAC championship. It will take a lot of hard work and everyone fully committing to their role, but if we do that, there’s no doubt that we can have success in the remainder of our season,” Hudson said.
For basketball, the PAC began divisional play starting this season. The conference formed six-team north and south divisions, featuring a 16-game conference schedule: home-and-away games against each divisional opponent and single games against each team in the opposite division, all counting toward league standings. The top four teams in each division will advance to the playoffs.
The Wolverines are now 5-3 in the PAC and 11-6 overall. They faced Hiram Wednesday and will host Washington & Jefferson at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
