LATROBE, Pa. (Nov. 18)- The Saint Vincent women's basketball team suffered their first PAC defeat of the season, falling to Westminster 69-63 at home on Saturday evening.
 
Saint Vincent (2-3, 1-1 PAC) trailed by one at the half, 25-24 and Westminster (2-2, 1-1 PAC) outscored SVC 44-39 in the second half to secure the road conference victory.
 
Three Bearcats reached double-figures with Emily Thompson leading the way with 17 points on 6-12 shooting and 3-5 shooting behind the three-point arc. Lizzie Bender added 13 points, one block, and two steals, while Emily Cavacini was the third Saint Vincent player in double figures with ten points, six rebounds, and four assists.
 
Madison Weber added eight points and six rebounds for the Bearcats, while both Alana Winkler and Makenna Maier scored five points for Saint Vincent. Camdon Bashor and Reese Gadsby rounded out the scoring for the Bearcats, scoring three and two points respectively.
 
Westminster came storming out of the gates, opening up to a quick 5-0 lead to begin the game. The Titans held Saint Vincent without a field goal for the first four minutes and change of the game, before Weber made a layup on an assist from Cavacini with 5:52 remaining in the half.
 
The Titans continued to play strong defensively against Saint Vincent, scoring the next five points to open their lead up to 10-2 with 2:55 remaining in the opening quarter. The Bearcats closed the quarter out on a 6-2 run, cutting the Westminster lead to 12-8 heading into the second. Thompson and Winkler both recorded two made field goals, while Weber added two from the free-throw line a part of the 6-2 run.
 
In the second quarter, Westminster once again took the first advantage. The Titans opened the quarter outscoring SVC 10-6 to increase their lead back up to eight at 22-14 with 3:35 remaining until the half. The Bearcats once again climbed back into it with a 10-3 run to close out the quarter.
 
Thompson and Cavacini combined to score eight of the ten points during the run, each scoring four points to cut the lead to just one (25-24) heading into the half.
 
Opening up the second half, the Bearcats took their first took their first lead of the game. SVC scored nine of the first 15 points of the quarter, taking a 33-30 lead after a made three-pointer by Thompson. The lead didn't last long as the Titans regained it back after six straight points, giving them a 36-33 lead.
 
Westminster closed the quarter out with the lead bouncing between 3-5 points over the remaining five minutes as the Titans lead 47-44 going into the final quarter of play.
 
Maier opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer for SVC to tie the game up at 47-47 and the game would go back-and-forth over the next several minutes with neither team gaining a lead more than three points.
 
The game went tied at 58-58 with 3:09 to play. Westminster took the lead back scoring three of the next four and never looked back. The Bearcats had a couple of opportunities to tie it late but were unsuccessful and the Titans secured the win at the free throw line.
 
Offensively, the Bearcats shot just 38 percent from the field (21-54) and 4-17 (23 percent) from beyond the three-point line. SVC was a strong 17-20 at the stripe, which was a clip of 85 percent. On the other side, Westminster shot 41 percent from the field (24-59) and 5-10 (50 percent) from beyond the three-point line.
 
Westminster turned the ball over 16 times, compared to 14 turnovers by Saint Vincent.
 
The Bearcats return to action on Tuesday, November 21 when they travel to Thiel for a PAC matchup and their final game prior to Thanksgiving break. Tip off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Greenville, Pa. against the Tomcats.