LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 19)- The Saint Vincent women's basketball team came up short in their game against Bethany on Wednesday evening, falling 55-47.
The Bearcats (12-12, 11-8 PAC) just had too many cold stretches in this one to overcome especially in the second half. Bethany (13-11, 10-9 PAC) did not fair all that much better, but they were able to limit runs enough to get a lead and hold onto it in the second half.
The star of the show for Saint Vincent was Camdon Bashor who put up 16 points on 7-9 shooting with eight rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Her impact was felt all over the court and she really kept the Bearcats steady for the majority of the game. Brooke Evans added a nice scoring spark, scoring 11 points on 5-7 shooting.
The Bearcats offense got off to a cold start, scoring just five points over the first seven minutes of the game. The offensive process was not the big issue here, there were some early turnovers and tough possessions but overall, they got some good looks. Saint Vincent just could cash in with a bucket, going 2-11 overall in the stretch and 0-4 from deep. Bethany was not fairing much better, shooting 5-15 over that stretch, but that was enough to build a 13-5 lead with about three minutes to play in the quarter.
From there both teams find a bit of rhythm on offense and trade buckets. The Bearcats were able to slightly cut into the lead, trailing 20-13 after the first quarter. Both teams shot under 40% in that first quarter, but that does not really show the full story, as both teams put together some impressive offensive possessions.
To start the second quarter the Bearcats turned up the heat on defense and kept their offense rolling enough to cut the lead to just two. With about six minutes left in the half the Bearcats trailed just 22-20.
After about one minute of no scoring from either team, the game settled into this dance where the Bearcats would continually cut the lead to one possession, but just before they could take a lead, Bethany would respond and push the lead back to four or more. Saint Vincent did manage to steal the lead one time with about three minutes to play in the half, but it was swiftly taken back by Bethany 10 seconds later.
Bethany was the last one to strike, taking a 32-28 lead into halftime.
The game slowed down a bit to start the third quarter with more foul calls and turnovers due to some sloppy plays on both ends. Saint Vincent was able to take advantage of this slower pace, creating good half court offense and generating a 6-0 run to take a 34-32 lead after the first three minutes of the third quarter.
Over the next four minutes the wheels completely fell off for Saint Vincent. They scored zero points over this stretch, shooting 0-4 from the field and turning it over three times. They could not find anything inside and the three point looks they did get they could not convert. On defense they were trying to be aggressive to overcome these offensive struggles but that led to some bad fouls that only fueled the run more. With about three minutes to play in the quarter Bethany took a 43-34 lead to cap off an 11-0 run.
Both teams went ice cold to end the quarter with Saint Vincent converting the only bucket over these final 3 minutes, putting the Bethany lead at 43-36 heading into the 4th quarter.
Both teams went back and forth to start the fourth quarter with strong defense and a lot of struggles on offense. They combined to shoot 6-21 with seven turnovers over the first eight minutes of the quarter. When this stretch ended Bethany found themselves with a slightly higher lead of 52-42.
With time dwindling the Bearcats had one last chance to make this a game again. They score twice in quick succession to cut the lead to five with about one minute to play.
Unfortunately, some costly turnovers late kill the momentum of this comeback and after Bethany hits their free throws they put this one away, winning 55-47.
The Bearctas will close out the regular season back at home this Saturday, February 22 against Grove City. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the Robert S. Carey Center with senior day festivities taking place prior to the game.
