PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Nov. 20)- The Saint Vincent women's basketball team fell in their President's Athletic Conference opener to Chatham by a score of 72-60 on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.
 
The Bearcats (0-4, 0-1 PAC) who trailed by just two points (15-13) at the end of the first quarter were outscored by Chatham (3-1, 1-0 PAC) 16-9 in the second quarter and then 41-38 in the second half.
 
Makenna Maier led Saint Vincent with a double-double, scoring 19 points, while also grabbing 11 rebounds. Maier shot an impressive 7-12 from the field and 5-10 from beyond the three-point arc.
 
Camdon Bashor finished with a double-double for Saint Vincent as well, scoring 13 points, while grabbing ten boards. Bashor was a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line.
 
Coming off the bench, Reese Gadsby scored eight points, six of which came from beyond the three-point line.
 
It was a back-and-forth opening quarter of play in Pittsburgh. At the first media timeout, the Bearcats held a slight two-point, 10-8 advantage after an efficient 5-11 shooting start from the field. Over the final three and a half minutes of play in the first quarter, the Cougars went on a quick 7-3 run to take a 15-13 lead over the Bearcats at the quarter break. Maier led all scorers in the quarter with seven points for Saint Vincent.
 
The Chatham defense opened up the second quarter on a strong note. Over the first five minutes of play in the quarter, Saint Vincent was outscored 7-2 as the Cougars held a seven-point lead (22-15). Out of the second quarter media timeout, Chatham buried a three pointer to take their first double digit lead of the game at 25-15.
 
Saint Vincent was held to just two points in the quarter over the first seven minutes of the quarter, before Maier hit another three, but Chatham still led 29-18. After the Maier three-point ball and four points from Bashor Saint Vincent had cut the lead to 29-22. A Chatham tip-in at the buzzer put the Cougars back up by nine (31-22) at the halftime break.
 
In the half, the Bearcats shot 9-28 (32.1%) from the field. Saint Vincent limited the Cougars to shoot just 31.6% in the half, forcing four Chatham turnovers as well.
 
Chatham quickly opened the second half on an 8-0 run to open their lead to 17 at 39-22, forcing a Saint Vincent timeout. Over the next few minutes, SVC slightly cut into the Chatham lead, but they still trailed by double figures at 45-31 halfway through the third quarter.
 
After a couple of Saint Vincent three pointers, the Bearcats had the lead down to just nine at 52-43 with 30 seconds left in the quarter. After splitting free throws and a layup as time expired in the quarter, Saint Vincent trailed by 12 (55-43) heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The Bearcats and Cougars played even in the fourth quarter as the Chatham lead remained in double digits for the entirety of the quarter. Saint Vincent and Chatham played to an even 17-17 tie in the final quarter as the Bearcats were defeated by the 12-point margin.
 
SVC shot 37.7% (23-61) from the field and 8-21 (38.1%) from the three-point line. Chatham on the other hand shot 41.2% (28-68) from the field and was 8-18 (44.4%) from beyond the three-point line.
 
Saint Vincent returns to action on Saturday, November 23 as they travel to Thiel for another PAC matchup. The Bearcats and Tomcats will tip-off at 1 p.m. in Greenville on Saturday.