The Saint Vincent women's basketball team opened the 2014-15 season with a home victory, 89-78 over Penn State-Altoona.
 
SVC started strong, quickly gaining a 6-0 lead, highlighted by a Drew Meeker three off of a Jasmine Weems steal.  Weems would keep the Bearcat buckets falling with a jumper at the 17:38 mark to extend SVC's lead to 10-3. 
 
Senior Jessica Welch would get into the action, sinking two free throws at the 14:46 mark.  Penn State Altoona would than go on a 9-0 run and take a 19-18 lead with 12:29 left in the first half.  The Bearcats quickly regained the lead with 11:07 left, after senior Taylor Mathers hit two free throws.
 
The first half quickly became a back and fourth contest.  Hannah Carroll hit a three at the 9:51 mark to give SVC a 25-22 lead.  With 58.7 seconds left in the first half, SVC freshman Babette Sanmartin stole the ball, dribbled down court, and scored on a layup while drawing a foul.  She sank the free throw, giving SVC a 39-38 lead.  The Lions quickly scored one more basket and SVC went into the locker room down 40-39 at the half.
 
Mathers started the second half with two SVC layups, tying the contest at 43-43.  At the 16:24 mark, senior Ally Schmidt drove to the basket, sunk the layup and drew a foul.  Schmidt hit the free throw, giving SVC a 47-45 lead, and the team would never trail again.
 
At the 12:52 mark the Bearcats would begin a 6-0 run, highlighted by a Hannah Carroll long two pointer as the shot clock expired.  SVC would go on another 6-0 run with 9:29 left in the second half lead by sophomore Mara Benvenuti's four free throws and a Jill Kegg layup. 
 
Penn State Altoona went on a 12-0 run at the 5:13 mark, but couldn't gain back the lead as SVC won the contest 89-78. 
 
Saint Vincent was led by Mathers, who hauled in a double-double, scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 boards.  Schmidt scored 11 points while dishing 9 assists and Benvenuti scored 11 while grabbing 7 boards to go along with 8 assists.  Penn State Altoona was led by forward Moira Corrigan, who scored a team-high 17 points and hauled in 11 rebounds. 
 
Saint Vincent (1-0) will return to action Friday at La Roche College.  Game time has been moved to 6:30.