GROVE CITY, Pa. (Jan. 31)- The Saint Vincent women's basketball team earned their fifth consecutive win after defeating Grove City, 61-56 in a hard-fought win on the road.
 
The Bearcats led by nine at the half, but a big third quarter helped the Wolverines take a four-point lead going into the final quarter. Saint Vincent outscored the Wolverines 21-12 in the final quarter to secure the five-point road win.
 
Emily Cavacini led the Bearcats with 19 points, while also grabbing four boards and making two steals. Alana Winkler finished right behind Cavacini, with 15 points and seven rebounds.
 
Lizzie Bender was strong for Saint Vincent as well, adding eight points and two rebounds. Reese Gadsby added five points, while Jillian Mannarino scored five as well coming off of the bench.
 
Madison Weber, Camdon Bashor, and Emily Thompson rounded out the Saint Vincent scoring with four, three, and two points respectively.
 
It was back-and-forth over the first three and a half minutes of play as the score was tied, 7-7. The game remained back-and-forth as buckets were being traded on each end of the court, mixed with good defensive play from both teams as well, as the score remained tied at 14-14.
 
Gadsby closed the quarter out with a three-pointer to give SVC the lead at 17-14 with 18 seconds left in the opening quarter. After a slight delay in the game due to a fire alarm going off in the Grove City Arena, the Bearcats picked up a huge defensive stop, holding that three-point lead going into the second quarter.
 
Grove City went on a quick 6-2 spurt to open the quarter as they regained the lead at 20-19, but from that point on in the quarter, Saint Vincent controlled the pace of play. SVC went on a 13-4 run over the next five and a half minutes of game action to take a 33-24 lead at the half.
 
Cavacini scored eight of the 13 Bearcat points on the run heading into the half.
 
It was all Grove City in the third quarter as the Bearcats struggled to get anything going offensively out of the half.
 
The Wolverines opened the half on a 12-2 run to take a one-point, 36-35 lead. The Wolverines continued to pressure SVC on the defensive end over the next few minutes in the quarter as Grove City outscored the Bearcats 20-7 in the quarter.
 
Saint Vincent trailed 44-40 going into the fourth quarter.
 
The Bearcats' offense found some life in the fourth quarter. Saint Vincent opened the quarter on a 10-0 run to regain a six-point, 50-44 lead. Winkler scored five of the Bearcats ten points on the run, two coming from the foul line and a successful three-pointer as well.
 
Saint Vincent held Grove City scoreless in the quarter until the 4:31 mark, when the Wolverines made a pair of free throws, followed by their first field goal of the quarter, coming on a layup to cut the Saint Vincent lead to 50-48 with 4:05 to go.
 
On the Bearcats' next trip down the court, Weber put in a layup, but Grove City answered with a huge three-pointer from Jaden Davinsizer to cut the SVC lead to just one (52-51) with 3:08 to play.
 
The Bearcat defense closed out the win over the next three minutes, holding Grove City to just four points, while scoring nine of their own to secure the win (61-55). Cavacini and Winkler closed out the victory by each sinking two free throws on SVC's final two offensive possessions.
 
SVC shot 22-57 (38.6%) from the field, while limiting Grove City to just 22-58 (38%) over the course of the game. The Bearcat defense also forced 20 Wolverine turnovers.
 
Davinsizer led the Wolverines with a game-high 20 points, while also grabbing six boards. Kat Goetz scored in double figures as well with 13 points and eight rebound for Grove City.
 
The Bearcats look to extend their five-game win streak on Saturday, Feb. 3, as they travel to Beaver Falls to take on Geneva. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Geneva on Saturday.