BOX SCORE

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by Steve Janik, Sports Information Assistant
The Saint Vincent women's basketball team cruised to a 78-53 victory on the road at Bethany College in Presidents' Athletic Conference play.

The Bearcats started the game with a quick 11-4 lead thanks to a three-pointer from Jillian Kegg and eight points from Taylor Mathers. They then extended their lead to 21-10 after a Maria Benvenuti trey.
 
With 9:01 left in the first-half, an Abby Stahl layup gave the visitors their largest lead of the first half at 13, with the 28-15 advantage.
 
However, the host Bison created turnovers and drew the SVC lead down to four with just under four-minutes to play. Two Bearcats answered to increase the lead just before the break when Benvenuti tallied two consecutive fast-break layups then Drew Meeker added a layup right before the half to send them into the locker room with a 36-28 lead.
 
The hosts started the second half on a strong 9-4 run to close within three (40-37). However, the Bearcats went on a 12-0 run of their own, led by Mathers and Benvenuti, to pull ahead 52-37 with 14:10 to play.
 
From then on SVC never looked back, establishing a lead of at least eighteen points throughout the final 7:27.
 
For Saint Vincent, the freshman Benvenuti had a career-high 18 points - on 7-for-9 shooting - along with five rebounds, while Mathers put up 16 points to go along with nine boards. Kegg was also in double figures with 10 to go with Meeker's nine.
 
With the win, the Bearcats improve to 6-0 in the President's Athletic Conference, tied for first place with Thomas More College, and 9-4 overall.  Their next action is Wednesday when they travel to Geneva for another PAC matchup.