Cherry on top: Presidents hold off Chatham, win PAC title
Senior guard Adalynn Cherry scored a game-high 19 points, powering the top-seeded Washington & Jefferson women’s basketball team to a 59-50 victory over third-seeded Chatham in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament championship game Saturday evening at Salvitti Family Gymnasium.
The victory gives W&J (23-4) the PAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament that begins Friday. Pairings will be announced Monday afternoon.
Chatham, who entered the tournament as the defending PAC champion, is 21-6.
The PAC title is the seventh for the Presidents and first since 2021-22. The conference title is the eighth overall and third at W&J for head coach Jina DeRubbo.
W&J led 24-11 after the first quarter and opened the second with a 7-2 run that grew the lead to 18 points. The Presidents’ offense went cold over the final five minutes of the first half, allowing Chatham to put together a 10-2 run to pull within 33-23 at halftime.
Chatham’s run spilled over into the second half. The Presidents’ offense remained stagnant. That allowed the Cougars to rip off another extended run. A three-point play by Charjae Brock tied the score at 35-35 with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter. Chatham took its first lead on a layup at the 2:29 mark. W&J was quick to answer as Katie Kovalchick made a layup on the ensuing possession. After an exchange of field goals, Cherry helped W&J regain the lead at the end of the quarter with a jumper just before the buzzer.
Field goals by Meghan Dryburgh and Cherry stretched the W&J advantage to 45-39. Chatham cut the W&J lead back to two on multiple occasions but that was as close as the Cougars would get.
Bryn Bezjak and Cherry provided a pair of three-pointers in the final minutes. Bezjak’s triple stretched the lead to 52-47. After a Chatham field goal, Cherry’s three made it 55-49 with 1:03 remaining.
Cherry was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. The point guard added seven rebounds to go along with her 19 points. Riley DeRubbo joined Cherry in double figures with 10 points. Kovalchick and Dryburgh joined Cherry on the all-tournament team.
Chatham, which was playing in the PAC title game for the third year in a row, was led by Madison Nereu, who had a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.