MEADVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 4)- The Saint Vincent women's basketball team traveled to Meadville, Pa. for a PAC matchup against Allegheny. The Bearcats came away with a 58-47 road win in a defensive heavy game.
 
Ella Marconi led the way for Saint Vincent with 17 points and nine rebounds. Emily Thompson also scored in double figures, scoring 13 points, while also dishing out two assists. Emily Cavacini was the third of three Bearcats to score in double figures, scoring 11 points, while leading the team with three assists.
 
Coming off the bench Anna Betz scored eight points and Lizzie Bender added five points off the bench as well. Madison Weber rounded out the scoring four the Bearcats, scoring four points while grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.
 
In the first quarter, it was Allegheny who took advantage first. The Gators played strong defensively opening up to a quick 4-0 lead, holding the Bearcats scoreless over the first two minutes of the game. Just under two and a half minutes into the game Thompson got the Bearcats on the board with a jumper to cut the Allegheny lead in half at 4-2.
 
After an Allegheny basket increased the Gators lead to 6-2 the Bearcats went on a 8-0 run on a couple free throws made by Marconi and a jumper by Weber and three-pointer by Cavacini gave the Bearcats a 10-6 advantage with just under four-minutes to go in the quarter. The strong defensive quarter continued as the teams combined for just five combined points over the final four minutes of the quarter, with the Bearcats holding an 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter, it was much of the same story early on, as the scoring remained at a minimum early in the quarter. Just under four minutes into the second quarter the Gators regained the lead at 15-14. The lead went back and forth between the Gators and Bearcats over the next several minutes as Allegheny held a slight 26-25 lead with just over one minute to go in the quarter.
 
With 49 seconds to go in the half, Betz drilled her second three-pointer of the quarter to give the Bearcats a 28-26 lead heading into the halftime break.
 
After the halftime break, the Bearcats opened the game up. Saint Vincent opened the half up on a 9-2 run that spanned over four and a half minutes of game time as SVC held a 37-28 lead which was the largest of the game to that point. The Saint Vincent lead hovered between eight and nine points over the next couple of minutes before Allegheny started to claw back into the game.
 
After the Bearcats led 41-33, Allegheny outscored the Bearcats 7-4 over the remaining three minutes of the quarter to cut the SVC lead to five at 45-40, heading into the fourth quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter it was all Saint Vincent. Neither team was able to put a point on the board in the first four and a half minutes of the quarter. Saint Vincent finally put points on the board after a two-point jumper by Cavacini to increase the SVC lead to 47-40.
 
Allegheny went on a quick 5-0 run to cut the SVC lead to 47-45 with 4:50 to go in the quarter. From that point on it was all Bearcats as Saint Vincent outscored the Gators 11-2 over the remaining four minutes. The Bearcats outscored the Gators 13-7 in the final quarter to seal the win.
 
The Saint Vincent defense held Allegheny to shoot just 28.8 percent (17-59) from the field and just 18.8 percent from beyond the three-point line. The Bearcats on the other hand shot 31.7 percent from the field (19-60) and 29.4 percent from beyond the three-point line (5-17).
 
The Bearcats will return to action on Wednesday, February 8 when they travel to Greenville, Pa. to take on Thiel in a PAC matchup. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Thiel College.