The Saint Vincent women's basketball traveled to Grove City College and dropped its first Presidents' Athletic Conference contest, 68-65. Saint Vincent falls to 13-6 on the year with a PAC record of 9-1 while Grove City improves to 16-2 overall and 8-2 in the conference.

The Bearcats opened the scoring as Jenna Lafko made a layup off a Kayla Slovenec pass. Grove City made the next two baskets to take a 4-2 lead but Lafko evened the score with another layup. Madison Kollar gave Saint Vincent the lead and increased it to four (8-4) with 3:40 left in the first period.

The Wolverines pulled within one after a three-point shot but Kollar answered with a layup to give SVC a 10-7 lead. GCC got back within one (10-9) with a fast break layup before the game went into the second period. 

Erin Giancola scored the first two baskets in the second period for Saint Vincent with a Wolverine make in between the SVC scores. Bri Van Volkenburg gave Saint Vincent its largest lead (5) at the 6:59 mark. Grove City cut it back to four but a layup from Giancola and two free throws by Lafko put the Bearcats ahead, 20-12. 

GCC responded with six-straight points to make the score 20-18 with 3:47 to go in the first half. Stephanie Vaughn extended the SVC lead to six with two field goals but Grove City quickly answered to make the difference four (24-20). Kollar made a free throw to put the Bearcats up five but a layup from the Wolverines with 32 seconds left in the half made the score 25-22. The score remained this way as both teams headed to the locker rooms.

Saint Vincent scored six of the opening eight points in the second half to lead 31-24 as Kollar, Slovenec and Lafko each scored. Grove City responded with six-straight and claimed its first lead of the game, 32-31. Lafko gave SVC the lead back with two free throws with 5:42 on the clock. Both teams went back and forth with the advantage until Madison Weber made a layup to put the Bearcats up 43-42 with 1:51 to go in the third. The Wolverines ended the period with four-consecutive points to lead 46-43 as the game headed to the final period of regulation.

Weber cut the difference to one before Lafko gave Saint Vincent a 47-46 edge. Weber extended the lead to two but Grove City went on a 7-0 run to take a 53-48 lead with 6:10 remaining in regulation. The combination of Lafko and Carlee Kilgus pulled SVC within two before the hosts increased it leads back to six.

The Wolverines allowed the Bearcats to come within three after a Slovenec three-pointer but GCC grew its lead to eight (64-56) at the 2:57 mark. Kollar accounted for the next five points to make the deficit three just before Grove City went up by five. Slovenec made a layup with 46 seconds left followed by a Van Volkenburg make with 10 seconds on the clock brought the Bearcats within one. However, the Wolverines made two free throws to see the three-point victory.

Kollar led SVC with 16 points as Lafko was the other double-digit scorer with 14 on the evening. Both teams were fairly even in the rebounding as the Bearcats grabbed 39 compared to 40 for GCC. In most of the team categories, both teams were pretty close.

Saint Vincent returns home to face Thiel College on Saturday, Feb. 1. Start time is 4 p.m.