WASHINGTON, Pa. (Dec. 2)- The Saint Vincent women's basketball team fell to Washington and Jefferson by a score of 65-41 on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Bearcats (3-5, 3-2) struggled offensively against a tough W&J defense over the course of the game. The Presidents (9-1, 7-0) defense made for a challenging for SVC from the field to help W&J open up to their seventh consecutive PAC victory.
 
In a game where points were hard to come by Jillian Mannarino provided some nice scoring off the bench with seven points on 3/4 shooting from the field. Brooke Evans had a big day on the boards grabbing 11 rebounds while adding five points of her own.
 
The first quarter was a rough one for the Bearcats as they trailed 21-8 by the quarters end. Their offense just could not get going as they shot 3/19 from the field in the quarter. Their defense was solid, holding W&J to just 47% from the field but with their struggles on offense it just did not matter as Saint Vincent found themselves in a big hole.
 
It was much of the same for the Bearcats offense in the second quarter with the Bearcats scoring just eight points again. However, their defense was able to ramp it up, holding W&J to just 12 points on 6/15 shooting.
 
The Bearcats found themselves trailing by 17 (33-16) at the halftime break. SVC shot just 19% from the field in the half. W&J played strong man defense with smart help all over the floor and were constantly cutting off driving lines and making passing difficult.
 
W&J capitalized on Saint Vincent turnovers out of the half, scoring 14 points off of 7 Bearcat turnovers. This helped W&J grow the lead despite only shooting 39% from the field in the quarter, leading 51-29 heading into the fourth.
 
The Bearcats were able to win the 4th quarter 15-14, but it was too little too late as W&J was able to hold on to their commanding lead and come out on top 65-41.
 
Saint Vincent was limited to shoot just 27% from the field and 19% from deep on the game.
 
Saint Vincent will look to bounce back on Thursday, Dec 19^th as they travel to Westminster. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at the Buzz Ridl Gymnasium in New Wilmington, PA.