GROVE CITY, Pa. — Despite a near double-double from Kelly Muffley (Salsburg, Pa./Western Reserve Academy) and 13 points from fellow senior Kelly Barzak (Warren, OH/Howland), Thiel's women's basketball team fell to homestanding Grove City 53-43 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference contest Saturday afternoon.

The Tomcats trailed by as many as seven in the first-half as a made three pointer by Grove City's Leah Gibson pushed their early lead to 13-6 with 14:22 left in the period. The Tomcats went on a 7-0 run, keyed by a three-pointer from Muffley and a lay-up by freshman Jaclyn Watkins, to tie the game at 13-13 with 11:37 left in the first half.
 
The Wolverines controlled the half from that point forward though, outscoring Thiel 9-4 to take a 22-17 lead into the half.
 
Thiel utilized an 8-3 run through the first seven minutes of the second half to cut the Grove City lead down to three, 28-25, with 12:54 left to play. Unfortunately for the Tomcats, that was the closest they were able to get, as the Wolverines kept the pressure on defensively and continued to get timely rebounds to seal the win.
 
The Tomcats outshot the Wolverines, 31.4% (16-to-51) to 28.1% (18-to-64) but were outrebounded 49-to-37 by Grove City.
 
Muffley came up just short of a double-double, finishing the afternoon with nine points and nine rebounds while also corralling three steals. Barzak recorded 13 points while swatting away four shots. Watkins added nine points and six rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench in the loss.

Mary McDonald led all scorers with 18 points and pulled down a game-high 14 boards. Gibson added 16 points and five rebounds in the Wolverines' win.
 
With the win the Wolverines improve to 6-6 and 5-3 in the PAC. The Tomcats fall to 2-12 overall and 1-7 in conference.

Thiel will host Chatham at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.