BOX SCORE

PHOTO GALLERY

The Saint Vincent Bearcats created 41 turnovers en route to a dominating 78-23 victory over Maine Maritime Academy in the opening round of the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mara Benvenuti got the Bearcats on the board at the 18:45 mark, hitting  a three-pointer that made the score 3-1, and the Bearcats held the lead the remainder of the way.
 
A steal and layup by Benvenuti made it 7-1 with 16:40 to go, and a Hannah Carroll three just over a minute later gave SVC a 12-2 edge.
 
Saint Vincent struggled from the floor throughout much of the next 10 minutes, but played stifling defense, creating 22 first-half turnovers while holding the Mariners to just 19% shooting (4-21) in the first 20 minutes.
 
Drew Meeker provided a spark, assisting on a score by Taylor Mathers at the 6:40 mark, then coming up with a steal on the inbound pass, scoring a basket of her own to make the score 20-9.
 
Mathers and Benvenuti continued to dominate on both offense and defense, with Mathers scoring 11 first-half points to go along with 7 rebounds, while Benvenuti had 7 points and six steals.

SVC took 41 shots in the first 20 minutes, hitting 11 (26.8%) but it was more than enough to hold a large advantage, taking a 29-11 lead into the break. 
 
After Shalia Williams scored to open the second half for SVC, Ally Schmidt came up with a steal and a score, which was followed quickly by a Meeker three.  Schmidt added another score to complete an 11-point run and make the score 40-11 just over 2 minutes into the second half. 
 
The Mariners hit a three pointer to make it 40-14, but the Bearcats responded with a 20-0 run, including 7 points from Carroll.
 
After a free throw ended the run, SVC added 10 more straight points, including the first of a pair of late threes from Susie Ellis. 

Ellis' second trey made the score 75-18 with 3:05 remaining, and the team continued to keep up the pressure on defense right to the finish.

Mathers led all scorers with 22 points and added 9 rebounds.  Carroll scored 10, while Schmidt tallied 8.  Benvenuti had 7 points, 7 rebounds and 8 steals.  Schmidt added 5 steals.

Maine held a 46-45 advantage on the night in rebounds, but SVC finished with a 41-8 advantage in turnovers.  SVC scored 46 points off turnovers.

SVC is now 8-1 on the season, and will play Curry College in the tournament's second round.  Tipoff will be 5PM Eastern on Tuesday.