LATROBE, P.A. (Jan. 25)- The Saint Vincent Women's basketball team won in dominating fashion over Thiel on Saturday afternoon earning 98-34 victory.
The Bearcats (10-8, 9-4 PAC) used a dominant defense and strong offensive chemistry, especially in a huge 37 point second quarter, to cruise to an easy win over Thiel (0-18, 0-13 PAC) in a conference matchup on Saturday evening.
The scoring was spread throughout the roster as the Bearcats were quickly able to rely on the bench as the lead grew, but that doesn't mean there were no standouts. Emerson Peffer had a big game scoring 14 points off the bench going 6-6 from the field. Kate Bollinger also got into double digits scoring 10 points on 4-6 shooting from the field.
The Bearcats offense got off to a slow start in the first quarter, scoring just 17 points on 37% shooting from the field. These early offensive struggles hardly mattered however because the defense showed up right away. The Bearcats were able to hold Thiel to just eight points on 19% shooting from the field. They just played suffocating defense the whole quarter and never gave Thiel a chance to find any offensive consistency.
The defense in the second quarter did not hold as strong, allowing 38% shooting this time, but that did not matter thanks to an offensive masterclass. Saint Vincent shot an incredible 74% from the field in the quarter, just scoring at will. The ball zipped around the court with everyone getting involved in the offensive outburst. The Bearcats finished the quarter scoring 37 points to push the lead all the way out to 54-19.
The third quarter was much of the same. Once again holding Thiel to just single digits, the defense stayed locked in throughout. There was nothing Thiel could do to generate good offense, and even when they could find good shots, they were so out of rhythm that they could not convert on them.
In the fourth quarter both teams went deeper into their bench, but the results did not change. Thiel once again was held under 10 points and the Bearcats put together another solid offensive performance with 23 points.
Saint. Vincent dominated this one from start to finish, they got to their spots consistently on offense and converted those looks effectively. On defense they made life very hard on Thiel and stayed locked in for the full 40 minutes to hold Thiel under 10 points
in three of the four quarters. This tremendous effort on both ends earned Saint Vincent a massive 98-34 victory.
The Bearctas will look to carry this momentum into next Saturday, February 1, when they head to Beaver Falls to take on Geneva. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
