LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 25) -- The Saint Vincent College women's basketball team defeated visiting Chatham University 68-52 in a sold-out Robert S. Carey Student Center to win the 2023 Presidents' Athletic Conference championship and earn a berth in the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.
Facing a seven-point halftime deficit, the Bearcats (22-4) outscored the Cougars (19-8) 45-22 over the game's final 20 minutes to win their third PAC title in five years and earn their fourth trip to the NCAA tournament.
Emily Cavacini, named the PAC Championship Tournament Most Valuable Player, led all scorers with 22 points, including 14 in the decisive second half.
Two Bearcats recorded double-doubles in the win, with Ella Marconi scoring 12 points with 10 rebounds and Madison Weber 10 points and a game-high 15 boards, while Lizzie Bender came off the bench to score 12 points, going 3-for-4 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line.
Alana Winkler led the Bearcats with five assists while also grabbing nine rebounds, as Saint Vincent outrebounded Chatham 51-33 for the game, including a 31-12 margin over the final 20 minutes.
Saint Vincent, which entered the game with NCAA Division III's top field goal percentage defense, allowed Chatham to shoot just 31 percent (20-for-64). The Cougars, who connected on 12 three-point field goals in their PAC semifinal win over top-seeded Washington & Jefferson, managed to go just 6-for-34 from behind the arc against the Bearcats in the title game, including a 1-for-18 mark in the second half.
The Bearcats trailed throughout the first quarter, falling behind by scores of 5-0 and 8-2 in the opening five minutes. SVC chipped away at the deficit, with a Cavacini three-pointer and a Bender layup pulling the hosts to within one, 8-7, with 3:23 to go. Just one more basket was scored over the remainder of the quarter, with a buzzer-beating layup by Alyssa Laukus giving the visitors a 10-7 lead after 10 minutes.
Cavacini's second three-pointer of the night brought SVC to within 11-10 with 9:00 left in the second quarter, but the Cougars promptly rattled off eight unanswered points to open up a 19-10 margin with 7:45 until the break. Saint Vincent would again slowly chip away at the deficit, pulling to within 24-19 after a Marconi jumper and an Emily Thompson three-pointer with 3:54 to go, but a Chatham triple pushed its lead to 29-21 with 1:26 left. Over the final 30 seconds of the half, Bender connected on a pair of free throws, before a freebie by the Cougars with four seconds left gave the visitors a 30-23 halftime lead.
Neither team shot particularly well over the first half, with the Bearcats at 28 percent (8-for-28) and the Cougars 31 percent (11-for-31), but Chatham connected on five three-point field goals and scored eight points off of eight SVC turnovers.
Chatham's lead hovered between six and eight points over the opening four minutes of the third quarter, but the Bearcats roared back following a media timeout. With 5:02 left, a jumper from Cavacini pulled SVC to within six, before Weber scored on a put-back with 3:54 left to close the gap to 38-34. After a missed Chatham three-pointer, Winkler slashed through the lane for a layup to make it a one-point game, before Weber tied it at 38 with a pair of free throws with 3:00 left in the third quarter. Ninety seconds later, SVC took its first lead of the night on a Bender layup, before Cavacini's fast-break layup in the closing seconds of the quarter capped off a 14-4 run and put the Bearcats in front 44-42 heading into the final quarter.
Saint Vincent kept the momentum to open up the fourth quarter, twice opening up six-point leads over the opening three minutes of the frame. Chatham would cut it to 50-46 with 6:31 left, but Marconi answered with six points in a 70-second span to give SVC its first double-digit lead of the night, 58-48, with 3:17 left in regulation.
Chatham's Ashlie Louden connected on just the Cougars' second three of the half with 3:08 left to cut the deficit to seven, 58-51, but it proved to be their final field goal of the afternoon. With 2:31 left, Marconi hit a jumper in the lane following a Weber offensive board, before Cavacini buried a pair of free throws at the 2:09 mark to extend the lead to 62-51. On the ensuing trip, Loudon hit one of two free throws to temporarily cut the gap to 10, but the visitors would get no closer. Over the final 1:41, the Cougars went 0-for-5 from the field, while Cavacini put the game away by going 6-for-6 from the foul line to set off a raucous celebration by the standing-room-only crowd at the Carey Center.
Fueled by Cavacini's 8-for-8 performance, the Bearcats went 16-for-17 from the line in the second half, and 20-for-21 for the game.
Along with their exceptional showing from the line, the stout SVC defense held the Cougars to just 27 percent from the field (9-for-33) in the second half, including a 1-for-18 mark from behind the arc.
Louden led the Cougars with 19 points, while Laukus scored 15 and Zelimar Rodriguez 14.
Saint Vincent will now prep for its fourth trip to the NCAA Division III National Tournament, having previously played in the big dance in 2011, 2012 and 2019.
The first round of this year's NCAA tournament is slated to begin on Friday, March 3. The Bearcats will learn their opponent and the site of their first round game on Monday on the NCAA Selection Show.