GROVE CITY, Pa. (Feb. 22) – The Saint Vincent women's basketball team was unable to overcome a sluggish start, as the Bearcats saw their season end with a 65-43 loss at Grove City College in the quarterfinals of the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.
 
The third-seeded Wolverines jumped out to a 25-10 lead in the first quarter and the Bearcats were unable to recover, committing 23 turnovers and shooting just 30 percent from the field, including a 1-for-11 performance from behind the arc.
 
Ella Marconi led SVC with 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds to narrowly miss the double-double, while Taylor Geer netted 10 points in the final game of her career.
 
After Geer scored the game's first two points in the opening minute of regulation, the Wolverines countered with a 14-1 run to jump out to a 14-3 lead midway through the first quarter. Two free throws from Alana Winkler and a three-pointer from Autumn Fennell cut the deficit to 16-8 with 3:27 left in the quarter, before the Wolverines answered with a 9-3 run to close the quarter with a 25-10 lead.
 
Grove City's lead would hover between 13 and 15 points over the early stages of the second quarter, but SVC chipped into the deficit as the quarter wound down, with Lizzie Bender, Geer and Marconi scoring over the final two minutes to cut the deficit to 36-25 at the intermission.
 
As the third frame began, Saint Vincent continued to cut into the deficit, pulling to within nine on two occasions, with a Geer jumper closing the gap to 36-27 with 8:49 left and a Marconi bucket in the paint making the score 42-33 in favor of the hosts with 5:16 remaining in the quarter. The Bearcat offense would then go cold, however, as SVC committed four turnovers and managed just one field goal over the final five minutes of the quarter to give the Wolverines a 51-37 lead.
 
The Bearcats mounted one final comeback attempt to open the fourth quarter, with layups from Marconi and Geer and a mid-range jumper from Emily Thompson making it a 12-point game, 55-43, with 7:00 left in regulation. It was as close as SVC would get, however, as the Wolverine defense clamped down to keep the Bearcats scoreless over the final seven minutes of play and pull away for the win.
 
Along with posting team-highs in points and rebounds, Marconi also blocked a game-best six shots. Thompson added nine points for SVC, while Madison Weber grabbed six rebounds and Winkler dished three assists.
 
Grove City, which scored 25 points off of SVC's 23 turnovers, was led by Clara Hannon's 18 points. Teammate Allison Podkul recorded an 11-point, 12-rebound double-double.
 
Saint Vincent ends its season with an 8-14 overall record, while Grove City improved to 17-8 and moves on to the PAC semifinals to face #2-seed Westminster.