GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 10) – Five Bearcats scored in double figures as the Saint Vincent women's basketball team rolled to an 85-44 victory over the Thiel Tomcats in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at the Beeghly Gymnasium.
The win extends the Bearcats winning streak to seven games, while the Tomcats have now dropped 17 straight games.
Saint Vincent opened with another strong start, scoring the first eight points of the game. Paige Montrose contributed five of those eight points. Thiel would finally get on the board with a layup to cut the Bearcat edge to 8-2 with 6:50 to play in the first quarter.
The Bearcats responded with back-to-back layups from Babette Sanmartin and Montrose to make it 12-2 at the 6:10 mark. Saint Vincent would tack on seven more points, including a pair of free throws by Carlee Kilgus, to make it 19-2 with 3:19 to play in the first quarter. Thiel would score on a late layup but Saint Vincent carried a 19-4 lead into the second quarter.
Saint Vincent kept pouring it on in the second quarter, outscoring the host Tomcats by a 21-8 margin to take a comfortable 40-12 advantage into halftime.
After the two teams exchanged baskets to make the score 21-6 with 8:52 remaining in the quarter, Saint Vincent rattled off a 10-0 run to take a 31-6 edge. Montrose and Kayla Slovenec combined to total all 10 points during the run. A field goal by Thiel made it 31-8 with 3:23 left in the half. However, SVC countered with a 9-4 spurt to close the half, including a jumper by Erin Giancola to cap the run.
Saint Vincent shot 44.1 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes, while limiting Thiel to just 5-of-24 (20.8 percent) from the field in the half. The Bearcats forced the Tomcats to commit 14 turnovers in the half.
The Bearcats maintained a sizable lead throughout the second half. A layup by Slovenec extended the lead back to 30 points (48-18) with 5:13 to play in the third quarter. SVC tacked on six more points to take its biggest lead of the game, pushing the lead to 54-18 after a layup by Montrose. The Bearcats would hold a 63-27 lead into the fourth. SVC outscored Thiel 22-17 in the fourth to complete the 85-44 victory.
Kilgus matched a career-high with 15 points off the bench, while Montrose also tallied 15 points in the win. Maria Morgan tallied 11 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Slovenec added 10 points. Sanmartin rounded out the group of Bearcats to score in double figures, totaling 10 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
SVC improves to 13-3 in the PAC and 16-7 overall. Thiel drops to 2-14 in the league and 3-20 overall.
The Bearcats return home to face nationally ranked Thomas More on Wednesday, Feb. 14 at the Carey Center. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.
