LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 10) – Visiting Washington & Jefferson used an explosive fourth quarter to defeat Saint Vincent, 62-50, in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup on Senior Day in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
 
The Bearcats (11-2, 9-9 PAC) held a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter, but the Presidents (21-2, 17-1 PAC) outscored SVC 31-14 over the game's final 14 minutes to pull away.
 
Playing in her final regular season game at the Robert S. Carey Student, Madison Weber led the Bearcats with 17 points, going 7-10 from the field, while adding a team-best eight rebounds. Emily Thompson added 12 points, with six rebounds, while Reese Gadsby came off the bench to record nine points and senior Lizzie Bender eight points with six rebounds.
 
Thompson staked the Bearcats out to a 3-2 lead early on in a defensively-themed first quarter. Bender and Alana Winkler added jumpers to put the Bearcats in front 9-7 at the mid point of the frame, before the Presidents scored the quarter's final six points to take a 13-9 lead after 10 minutes of play. In the low-scoring opening frame, the Bearcats connected on just four of 15 field goal attempts, while limiting the Presidents to a similar 5-15 mark.
 
Using the three-ball, Saint Vincent quickly jumped ahead to start the second frame, with Gadsby and Thompson each burying trifectas to give SVC a 15-13 lead with just under eight minutes until the half. The Presidents answered to tie the game at 18-18 with four minutes left, before the Bearcats took control heading into the locker room. A Gadsby free throw and a Weber layup pushed SVC in front 21-18, before another Gadsby three increased the advantage to 24-20 with 2:30 to go. After picking off a steal and racing to a coast-to-coast layup with 30 seconds left, Weber would close the half in style, nailing a baseline jumper from 12 feet to beat the buzzer and send SVC into the locker room with a 28-22 lead.
 
Thompson had eight points and Weber and Gadsby seven apiece over the opening 20 minutes, while the SVC defense played a big role in producing the six-point halftime lead, as it held the Presidents to an 8-for-30 mark from the field, including a 3-for-14 showing from behind the arc.
 
SVC stayed hot coming out of the break, opening the third quarter on a 6-2 run, with jumpers from Bender and Thompson and a Cavacini baseline layup opening up a 10-point lead, 34-24, with 7:27 left in regulation. The SVC advantage hovered between seven and nine points over the next several minutes, but the Presidents closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 38-36 heading into the final frame.
 
An offensive putback by Bender on the opening trip of the fourth quarter upped the SVC lead back to four, 40-36, but the Presidents scored six unanswered points over the next three minutes to take a 42-40 lead, their first since the opening minutes of the second quarter. Gadsby promptly tied the game with a pair of free throws at the 6:41 mark, but the Presidents countered with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to open up a 48-42 lead with 5:39 left in regulation. Weber scored six points over the next 90 seconds to keep the SVC deficit at six, 54-48, with 2:50 remaining, but the Presidents countered with another 6-0 run to open up a double-digit lead and put the game away.
 
After shooting at just a 28 percent clip over the game's first 30 minutes, the Presidents went 7-10 from the field in the final quarter, connecting on both three-point attempts, while also going 8-8 from the foul line.
 
For the game, both teams turned in similar performances from the field, with SVC shooting 36 percent (21-58) and W&J 35 percent (20-56). The Presidents, however, made seven three-pointers to SVC's four, while also shooting a perfect 13-13 at the line, compared to a 6-12 performance by SVC. The Bearcats had a slim margin on the glass, outrebounding their visitors by a 39-38 margin.
 
Stellanie Loutsion led W&J with 15 points, while Meghan Dryburgh ended with nine points and a team-best 11 rebounds.
 
Prior to the game, the Bearcat senior class of Bender, Cavcini and Alana Winkler were recognized four their four-year careers in an on-court ceremony. The trio has helped lead the Bearcats to a total of 52 wins over their four-year careers, and PAC titles in both 2021 and 2023.
 
The Bearcats enter the final week of the regular season in must-win mode, beginning with a trip north to Allegheny College on Wednesday night. Saint Vincent currently sits in eighth place in the PAC standings, 1.5 games outside of the sixth and final spot into the PAC Championship Tournament.