LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 20) – Using its familiar recipe of balanced scoring and stout defense, the Saint Vincent women's basketball team earned a 56-43 victory over Bethany College in the quarterfinals of the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament.
 
Saint Vincent (20-4), seeded second in the PAC tournament, will now face sixth-seeded Westminster College in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
 
Leading just 21-17 after a sluggish first half, Saint Vincent put the game away with a big third quarter, shooting 8-for-9 from the field and outscoring the Bison 20-7. Staked to a 17-point lead, the Bearcats then held the Bison at bay over the final 10 minutes to earn their spot in the PAC's final four.

Offensively, Emily Cavacini scored a game-high 16 points and Lizzie Bender came off the bench to score 13, while the Bearcat defense limited Bethany to just 22 percent from the field (12-for-54) and recorded nine blocked shots, with six coming from Ella Marconi.
 
SVC also had a strong night on the glass, out-rebounding Bethany 43-37. Marconi grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds, while Madison Weber and Alana Winkler each snared nine boards.
 
In the opening quarter, SVC jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead a little over three minutes into play, with a Cavacini three, two Weber foul shots and a Weber layup. The lead would eventually grow to 11-3 on an Emily Thompson jumper with 3:08 left, but the hosts were held off of the scoreboard for the rest of the quarter, with Bethany cutting the gap to 11-6 after 10 minutes of play. Over the opening frame, The Bearcats held Bethany to just two field goals on 17 attempts, with both baskets coming from behind the arc.
 
Bethany cut the gap to 11-8 after the opening possession of the second quarter, but Cavacini, Marconi and Diana Mosten each connected on layups over an 80-second span to push the SVC lead to 17-8 with just over eight minutes left in the half. Bethany countered with a 9-3 run, with the points coming via three Taylor Dusenberry three-pointers, to cut the deficit to 19-17 with 1:47 left in the half. Holding for the final possession of the quarter, SVC missed a three-pointer with eight seconds left, but Cavacini corralled the offensive rebound and found Weber for a layup to beat the halftime buzzer and give SVC a 21-17 lead at the break.
 
Winkler opened the third quarter with layups on back-to-back possessions to give SVC a 25-17 lead. The Bison responded with a pair of free throws to cut the gap to six, but the Bearcats would then erupt on a 10-3 run over the next five minutes, with six points from Bender, to open a 35-20 advantage on a driving layup by Anna Betz. After a Bethany basket temporarily halted the surge, Cavacini nailed a long three-pointer before Marconi scored down low off of an assist from Weber to give SVC a 40-22 lead with 1:48 left in the quarter.
 
Weber scored on the first trip of the fourth quarter to give the Bearcats their largest lead of the night, 43-24, but the Bison responded with a 10-2 run to make it an 11-point game, 45-34, with 6:12 to go. The Bearcats shrugged off the Bethany surge, as Bender scored five points over the next 45 seconds and Cavacini connected on a layup to push the lead back to 18, 52-34, essentially sealing the victory with 5:00 left to play. The margin would hover between 15 and 18 points over the next several minutes, before Bethany scored four points over the game's final minute to account for the final score.
 
Fueled by the quartet of Bender, Weber, Winkler and Marconi, SVC held a commanding 30-10 advantage in points in the paint, while the Bearcats ended with 14 points off of 12 Bethany turnovers.
 
Dusenberry led Bethany (9-17) on the scoresheet with 14 points, going 4-for-6 from behind the arc, while Bella Skobel scored 11.
 
Saint Vincent will now set its sights on Westminster, with the winner of Wednesday's fray advancing to Saturday's PAC title game. The Bearcats and Titans split the regular season series, with Westminster defeating SVC 59-42 on Nov. 19 in the Carey Center, and the Bearcats earning revenge with a 63-48 road victory over the Titans on Jan. 21.