GREENSBURG, Pa. (Dec. 20) – The Saint Vincent College women's basketball team held off a late rally to earn a 77-65 victory over crosstown rival Pitt-Greensburg.
Emily Thompson scored 18 points to lead four Bearcat scorers in double figures, going 8-for-13 from the field and 2-for-3 from long range.
Emily Cavacini and
Ella Marconi each added 17 points, while
Madison Weber scored 10. Marconi also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season as the Bearcats moved to 7-3 with their third consecutive victory.
Saint Vincent started hot, connecting on its first six field goal attempts to take a 12-3 lead midway through the first half. Weber scored six points over the span, with Marconi, Thompson and Cavacini each adding two points. Thompson then scored five points in a 40-second span, taking a steal coast-to-coast before burying a long three-pointer, to up the lead to 17-5. The Bobcats chipped away at the deficit to eventually close to within 22-15 at the end of the quarter.
The Bobcats scored on the opening trip of the second quarter to cut the SVC lead to five, but the Bearcats countered with a 9-3 run over the next four minutes, capped off with another Cavacini jumper, to regain a double-digit lead, 31-19. With inside four minutes remaining in the half, Cavacini and
Anna Betz connected on threes on back-to-back possessions to open up a 39-25 lead, before
Lizzie Bender connected on a runner to beat the second quarter buzzer and give SVC a 43-28 lead at the intermission.
Over the first half, Saint Vincent shot a blistering 65 percent (17-for-26) from the field, including a 4-for-5 mark from behind the arc, while limiting the Bobcats to just 21 percent from the field (8-for-37).
The teams traded baskets throughout much of the third quarter, with the SVC lead hovering between 11 and 14 points, before another quick spurt by Thompson ignited a Bearcat run to end the frame. As she had a quarter earlier, Thompson connected on two buckets in a 10-second span. After burying a jumper, she picked off the ensuing inbounds pass for the easy layup. SVC would then end the quarter with another buzzer-beater, with Cavacini's corner three pushing the SVC lead to 67-49. The Bearcats stayed hot from the field, connecting on nine of 14 third quarter attempts.
Saint Vincent went cold in the fourth, however, with UPG outscoring its guests 16-4 over the first eight minutes to pull to within seven, 72-65, with just over two minutes left to play. Marconi split a pair of free throws at the 1:30 mark, with the Bearcats corralling the offensive rebound on her miss. The lengthy possession ended with
Alana Winkler connecting on two free throws to push the lead back into double digits, 75-65, with a minute left. After an empty UPG trip, Weber then scored on a driving layup with 24 seconds left to close the game's scoring and seal the victory.
Saint Vincent shot an even 50 percent from the field (27-for-54), including a 6-for-10 effort from behind the arc, while also connecting at a solid 78 percent (17-for-22) from the foul line. Conversely, the Bobcats were limited to just 28 percent shooting (20-for-70). Led by the efforts of Marconi and Weber down low, the Bearcats out-scored the Bobcats 34-16 in the paint, while SVC totaled 16 assists on its 27 baskets, with Cavacini, Winkler and Weber tying for the team lead with four helpers apiece.
Pitt-Greensburg (3-7) was led on the scoresheet by the duo of Melina Maietta and Sidney McCully, who each registered 19 points. Maietta recorded four of her team's nine three-pointers, while Lizzie Penrose led the Bobcats with nine rebounds.
The Bearcats will now have an 8-day layoff before traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the 2022 D3hoops.com Classic, at which they will face off against Wellesley on Dec. 28 and SUNY-Oneonta on Dec. 29. Both games will start at 5 p.m. (EST).
