GRANTHAM, Pa. (Nov. 7)- The Saint Vincent women's basketball team fell 60-54 to Nazareth at the Messiah Tip-Off Tournament in their season opener.
 
The Bearcats (0-1) trailed by nine at the half attempted a second half comeback, but the strong Nazareth defense limited them to just two points over the final 4:40 of the fourth quarter to end the Bearcats comeback bid and hand them the loss in the season opener.
 
Makenna Maier led Saint Vincent with 15 points, four rebounds, and four steals in the loss. Brooke Evans added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Bearcats as well.
 
Danielle Pontius and Olivia Yancy both recorded nine points each, while Camdon Bashor added seven points and six rebounds for Saint Vincent.
 
SVC was limited to shoot just 18-67 (27 percent) from the field in the loss. Saint Vincent outrebounded the Golden Flyers by a slight 41-40 margin.
 
It was an offensive struggle for SVC against a tough Nazareth defense in the opening quarter. The Bearcats were limited to just five points on 2-17 shooting in the quarter. Evans scored four of SVC's five points in the opening quarter of the season. SVC was held scoreless over the first three plus minutes to open the game.
 
SVC opened the second quarter on a quick 6-0 run to cut the Nazareth lead to four (15-11). Pontius scored three points and Olivia Yancy buried a three on the run for Saint Vincent. Saint Vincent continued to cut into the Nazareth lead as a few minutes later Maier made a three ball to cut the lead to just three (19-16) with just over four minutes to go in the half.
 
The Golden Flyers went into the half on a 7-2 run as SVC found themselves trailing by eight (26-18) at the half. Maier led Saint Vincent with five points in the half, while Evans totaled four and Bashor recorded three of her own.
 
Saint Vincent controlled the third quarter, especially late in the quarter. SVC slightly outscored the Golden Flyers by a 24-20 margin in the highest scoring quarter of the game to that point to cut the game to just four points (46-42). Nazareth shot 7-10 from the field in the quarter, while Saint Vincent was 7-19 on their offensive end. Yancy buried a three pointer at the buzzer to the cut the lead to just fourth heading into the final quarter.
 
The Saint Vincent momentum carried into the beginning of the fourth quarter. After a Yancy steal, Pontius turned it into a three ball on the other end, cutting the Nazareth lead to just one at 48-47 with just under eight minutes to play.
 
On the ensuing Saint Vincent offensive possession, Saint Vincent took their first lead of the night (49-48) after another layup from Potnius, forcing a Nazareth timeout. Over the next couple of minutes, Nazareth regained their lead as it was 52-51 at the under-five media timeout.
 
Pontius split a couple of free throws on the next SVC offensive possession to tie the game at 52-52 with under four minutes to play. However, Nazareth scored on back-to-back layups on their next two possessions and SVC trailed 56-52 with two minutes left.
 
Saint Vincent was held to just two points over the final 4:40 in the quarter as Nazareth closed the game out on a 12-5 run to end the Bearcats comeback bid in the season opener.
 
Saint Vincent will return to action tomorrow, Saturday, November 8 taking on either Messiah or Marywood in the tournament's consolation game. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Grantham, Pa.