The Baruch College Bearcats began their trip to the D3hoops.com Classic on a positive note with a 69-58 victory over Southwestern University of Texas at the South Point Casino Arena and Equestrian Center on Friday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Bearcats controlled play in the first half en route to building a 10 point (27-17) halftime lead, but Southwestern from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) rallied at the start of the second half with a 16-4 run to go ahead, 33-31, with 14:09 remaining.

Freshman Kristen Podlovits saved the Bearcats by connecting on four 3-pointers over the next six minutes as the Bearcats went ahead and took a commanding 53-45 lead after her fourth 3-pointer at the 8:08 mark.

Southwestern was able to get as close as 60-56 with under three minutes left, but the Bearcats finished by scoring nine of the last 11 points for the 69-58 victory to raise their season record to 7-1.

Sheridan Taylor had a monster game with another double-double of 16 points, 20 rebounds and two blocked shots

Podlovits finished with 14 points and Alicea Ulmer almost had a double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Iyana Abrams (four steals) and Francess Henry each totaled nine points and six rebounds for the victory in the bright lights of Las Vegas.

Neither team shot the ball well this evening, but the Bearcats did manage to shoot the ball 25 more times than their opponent from Texas. They also dominated the rebounding battle (56-44) and scored 22 points off 19 turnovers.

The Bearcats will play their second game on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm local time (5:00 pm New York) against Ohio Northern University.