Despite being held to its lowest scoring output of the season, the 19th-ranked Saint Vincent women's basketball team found a way to grind out a victory against Washington & Jefferson, defeating the Presidents 52-45 in a defensive struggle in the Carey Center.
The victory, which clinches a season sweep for SVC over W&J, improves the Bearcats to 18-2 overall and 11-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, while W&J falls to 8-12 overall, and 5-6 in conference play.
The Bearcats trailed by four, 43-39, with 6:25 left in regulation, but the Bearcats ended the game on a 13-2 run, with the win sealed on a Maria Baroffio three-pointer with just under three minutes remaining.
Devin McGrath led the Bearcats with 12 points, while teammate Brittany Sedlock scored 10 and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Caty Kumar came off the bench to score nine points, while Melissa Mansur tallied five of the Bearcats' 12 steals on the evening.
Washington & Jefferson was led on the scoresheet by Catlyn Kriston, who scored a game-high 18 points by way of a 6-for-14 showing from behind the three-point line.
The Presidents looked poised for the upset from the start, jumping to an 11-2 lead just six minutes into the first half.
The Bearcats were able to cut the deficit to five, 15-10, with seven minutes remaining, before five straight points from Kumar in a 50-second span pulled the Bearcats to 15-12 with 5:45 left in the opening stanza. With four minutes left, a long three from Mansur tied the game at 15, and then Kumar stayed hot, giving SVC the lead for the first time in the half, 18-17, at the two-minute mark.
The Presidents, however, would end the half's scoring with a three-point with just over one minute left, to take the 20-18 lead into the locker room.
Over the first 20 minutes, the Bearcats turned in arguably their poorest offensive half of the season, shooting just 19 percent from the field (6-for-31) while committing seven turnovers.
On the opening possession of the second half, McGrath scored to allow the Bearcats to regain the lead, 19-18, but the teams would then trade buckets over the next five minutes, until the Presidents would use a 12-3 run, capped off with a Kriston three, that put the visitors up 40-31.
The Bearcats would then come back in a big way, scoring eight unanswered points, highlighted by three pointers from Emily Fenton and Sedlock, to pull to within 40-39 with 6:50 left on the clock. W&J would tie it at 45 with 3:30 to go, but a three from Baroffio 40 seconds later would put the Bearcats ahead 48-45, and it was a lead the hosts wouldn't relinquish, as SVC sealed the win with two free throws apiece from Baroffio and Mansur over the final 55 seconds.
Saint Vincent out-scored W&J 35-27 over the second half, holding the Presidents to just seven field goals, while out-rebounding the Presidents 22-18 during the final stanza.
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday evening, traveling to longtime foe Geneva College for a 5:30 tip in Beaver Falls, PA.