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LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 1) - The Bearcats started the game on a 21-6 run and never looked back, downing Thiel, 80-49, in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at the Carey Center.

With the win, the Saint Vincent women's basketball team improves to 17-3 this season and 12-1 in PAC play. Thiel falls to 5-15 overall and 5-8 in conference action.

SVC scored the first 10 points of the game over the first three-plus minutes to open up, with four point apiece scored by juniors Melissa Mansur and Devin McGrath. The Bearcats them embarked on an 11-1 run over the next five minutes to stretch the early lead to 21-4. Four points from McGrath and a traditional three-point play by Mansur powered the run.

Thiel cut the lead to 13 points, 26-13, before a McGrath free-throw and basket by freshman Elle Collins put the lead back to 16 points, 29-13, with 5:29 remaining. Senior Brittany Sedlock would score the next six points for SVC on a traditional three-point play and three-pointer at the 3:17-mark to build the 20-point cushion, 35-15. The Bearcats took a 39-19 lead into the intermission.

McGrath scored just 17 seconds into the second half before senior Emily Fenton hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to build the lead to 47-21. After Thiel made it a 53-32 game with 14 minutes left in the game, McGrath hit a shot from beyond-the-arc to spark a 20-1 run that lasted six minutes. During the run freshman Ally Schmidt scored four points and classmate Jessica Welch connected on her second triple of the game.

Over the final eight minutes of play, junior Kendra Burchfield scored seven points to help SVC close out the 80-49 win.

McGrath led all scorers with 20 points while Sedlock and Collins each added 11 points. Fenton and Welch chipped in eight points apiece. Sedlock posted a game-high 12 rebounds in the win while McGrath and sophomore Ariel Rocco collected nine rebounds each.

Kelly Barzak led Thiel with 17 points in the loss.

For the game, SVC shot 42.9 percent (30-of-70 from the field) and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from beyond-the-arc. The Bearcats held Thiel to just 30.9 percent (17-of-55) from the floor and only 22.2 percent (two-of-9) from long range.

The Bearcats return to action on Saturday, Feb. 4, traveling to Waynesburg looking to avenge an earlier loss to the Yellow Jackets. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.