BOX SCORE
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The Bearcats eked out a narrow victory, 47-42, on the road over the Grove City College Wolverines in a game dominated by missed shots and turnovers.
Saint Vincent struggled in the opening minutes, falling behind 7-3 in the first four minutes of play, with the only points coming on a conventional three-point play by
Jordan Clinton.
Taylor Mathers provided a spark near the midway point of the half, blocking a shot and hitting a basket that cut the deficit to one, 12-11.
Grove City scored with 7:56 remaining in the half to take a 14-11 lead, but it would prove to be their final points of the half, as Saint Vincent scored the final seven points of the half.
The teams combined for a total of 27 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play.
After a drive and score by
Jessica Hentrel gave the Bearcats a 24-18 lead, the hosts went on a 12-0 run over the next six minutes, taking a 30-24 advantage before
Devin McGrath scored at the 10:48 mark to end the streak.
However, the Wolverines held a 7-point edge, 37-30, near the 8-minute mark before a steal and score by
Melissa Mansur, who missed much of the first half because of foul trouble, cut the gap to five. McGrath then hit a clutch three-pointer - the team's first in 16 attempts to that point - to make the score 37-35.
After a Bearcat timeout with 3:47 to play, the team came alive, with 6 points within 20 seconds.
Ally Schmidt sent a perfect bounce pass to McGrath underneath the hoop for a score to make it a one-point game, and Mansur then stole the inbound pass and scored to give SVC the lead. Less than 10 seconds later, another steal and a score by McGrath extended the lead to three. Grove City never recovered from the Bearcat run.
McGrath led the Bearcats with 13 points on the day and added 9 rebounds and five steals. Clinton had a double-double, posting 11 points and 10 boards. Mansur had 8 points and six steals.
Ariel Rocco had seven rebounds, while Schmidt had six points for the Bearcats (5-3, 3-1 Presidents' Athletic Conference).
Grove City (3-3, 2-2 PAC) was led by Leah Gibson's 16 points.
SVC shot just 29.7 percent from the floor (19-64) while Grove City was 13-42 (31%). Saint Vincent hit just one of 17 three-pointers for the game, and was 8-15 from the charity stripe. Grove City hit 4-16 from outside the arc, and shot 12-17 from the line.
Saint Vincent will return to action next Saturday, facing Juniata College on the road.