BOX SCORE

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by Mike Hustava
The Saint Vincent women's basketball team opened the PAC playoffs with a 70-64 victory over Washington & Jefferson in the Carey Center. On the same day she was named a Capital One Division III Academic All-American, Brittany Sedlock poured in a career-high 30 points to lead the Bearcats to a victory. Saint Vincent used 12 three-pointers to hold off a tough Presidents squad.
 
The Bearcats jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the first two minutes but a three from Alexa DelGreco brought W&J back to within, 6-3 with 17:26 remaining in the opening half.
 
Two minutes later, a three-pointer from Blair Cotton put W&J ahead 8-6. A back-and-forth affair over the next five minutes, Saint Vincent managed to get some breathing room when Emily Fenton hit a three-pointer to put the Bearcats up by eight, 24-16, with just over 11 minutes to go in the first half.
 
After a bucket from W&J's Valerie Dunlap, Jessica Welch extended the Bearcat lead to nine, 27-18, with a three-pointer with 10:30 remaining in the opening half.
 
W&J scrapped back into the game, though, and pulled within two at 27-25 on a three from Emily Abraham with under ten minutes to go in the half.
 
The teams traded buckets over the next several minutes before Ally Schmidt hit a three-pointer to put Saint Vincent ahead 35-27 with less than four minutes to play in the first half.
 
A bucket from Sedlock with 30 seconds left put Saint Vincent up by seven but a pair of free throws from Cotton closed out the half's scoring and Saint Vincent led 39-34 at the break.
 
The two teams combined to shoot 10-of-22 from three-point range in the half and W&J shot 45 percent from the floor compared to the Bearcats' 41 percent.
 
Fenton started the second half with a three for the Bearcats and Sedlock knocked down a jumper to extend the Saint Vincent edge to 44-34. The two buckets sparked a 14-4 run for Saint Vincent to start the half, capped off by a three from Sedlock to make the score 53-38 with just over 15 minutes left in the second half.
 
After the teams went back-and-forth over the next four minutes, W&J got back into the game by going on a 9-0 run of their own. A three-point play from Dunlap capped the run and cut the Saint Vincent edge to nine, 62-53, with 7:52 to play.
 
The Bearcats were able to recover and pull away over the next five minutes. The Presidents closed the gap to seven, 67-60, with 2:26 remaining in the second half but a three from Sedlock put the Bearcats back up by ten. W&J made it 70-64 on a lay-up from Ashley Kirkpatrick but it was not enough as the Bearcats held on for the victory.
 
Sedlock led all scorers with 30 points and grabbed 13 boards. Fenton chipped with 14 points and eight rebounds and Devin McGrath pulled in 13 rebounds.
 
Kirkpatrick led the Presidents with 12 points and Dunlap added 11 in the losing effort.

Saint Vincent will now head to Kentucky for the Final Four Conference Tournament which will begin on Friday.  Saint Vincent will face Waynesburg College on Friday at 6PM, with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game against the winner of Thomas More vs Bethany.