PHOTO GALLERY

The Saint Vincent women's basketball team scored early and often, pulling away to a 47-point victory on the road over Bethany College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game.

The final score was 81-34.

With the win, the Bearcats, ranked #7 in the Great Lakes region in the NCAA Regional Rankings, improved to 12-1 in the conference.  The team is 18-4 overall.  Bethany has now dropped three straight, and is 11-11 overall, 6-7 in the PAC.
 
Paige Montrose set up the first score of the game with a blocked shot, and Jenna Lafko completed the play by hitting a three on the other end of the court at the 9:19 mark of the first quarter.  The lead later grew to 9-4 after a pair of Montrose free throws.  
 
With 3:14 left in the first, Morgan hit a long-range shot from well outside the arc, putting SVC in front 14-8.   A turnaround jumper by Erin Giancola with under two minutes remaining pushed the lead to eight, 18-10.
 
The lead increased to eleven when Bri Van Volkenburg hit a three from the corner, and Morgan hit another long three in the closing seconds of the first to make it 24-10 in favor of the Bearcats, completing an 8-point run to end the period.  As a team, the Bearcats shot 60% from the floor during the opening 10 minutes.  
 
The scoring tempo slowed during the first half of the second quarter, with Bethany using free throws to close the gap to 26-17, but the Bearcats ended the half with a 17-2 run. Morgan, who had just entered the game seconds earlier, hit another three to start the run.  Kayla Slovenec followed with a runner in the lane. After four straight points by Montrose, Slovenec came up with back-to-back steals.  She completed the fastbreak the first time, then dished to Carlee Kilgus for a score after the second steal, at the 2:56 mark.  By the end of the half, the Saint Vincent lead was 24 points, 43-19.
 
Midway through the third, the Bearcats embarked on another run, this one 11 points, increasing the lead to 58-21.  Giancola capped the run with an uncontested layup at the 2:33 mark.  
 
In the fourth quarter, Taylor Geer scored on a layup followed by a three from Lauren Gamble to make it 72-28.  Gamble added another three later in the quarter as the Bearcats pulled away to the victory.
 
Morgan led the way with 11 points, all in the first half.  Montrose and Kollar each added 10.  In all, 14 different Bearcats recorded points on the night.  Slovenec, Montrose and Giancola each had 5 rebounds. 
 
Up next for Saint Vincent is a home matchup against Waynesburg University at 4PM on Saturday, February 9.