NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Jan. 13) – Babette Sanmartinscored 14 points and added nine rebounds as the Saint Vincent women's basketball team claimed an 83-43 victory over Westminster College in Presidents' Athletic Conference play.
 
The victory was the seventh straight and the 16th in the past 17 meetings for SVC over Westminster. The Bearcats played tough on both ends of the court, shooting 43.8 percent on offense and forcing Westminster to commit 39 turnovers.
 
Saint Vincent dominated from the outset of the contest. After Westminster scored on a layup by Emily Fromknecht on the opening possession, Saint Vincent responded with a 15-0 run to take a 15-2 advantage at the 5:04 mark.
 
Sophomore Bri Van Volkenburg tallied six points during the run, while Sanmartin added five points to help SVC to the early double-digit lead.
 
Back-to-back baskets by Brooke Lyczek helped the Titans cut the deficit back to single digits at 15-6 with 3:04 remaining in the opening quarter. That did not last long as the Bearcats closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 25-8 advantage after 10 minutes.
 
Freshman Jenna Lafko connected on a three-pointer and sophomore Taylor Boring converted on a three-point play with a driving layup and free throw to cap the run.
 
The lead reached 20 points early in the second quarter when sophomore Kayla Slovenec scored on back-to-back possessions. Slovenec first sank a jumper before stealing the next inbounds pass and laying it in to give SVC a 30-10 at the 6:43 mark.
 
Saint Vincent held a lead of at least 15 points for the remainder of the half before taking a 40-24 lead into halftime.
 
Sanmartin led SVC with nine points in the first half. Van Volkenburg and Slovenec each added six points as the Bearcats converted 42.9 percent of its field goals. SVC was 14-of-18 at the free throw line over the first 20 minutes.
 
SVC opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run, capped by a three-point play from Morgan, which pushed the lead to 48-26.
 
Westminster would chip away at the deficit, using a 9-2 run to put the score at 50-35. However, SVC countered with a free throw from Van Volkenburg and a three-pointer by Lafko, which made it 54-35 at the 3:40 mark. Kiara Arnold would add a layup and free throw to make it 57-37 with 3:00 left in the third.
 
Arnold, Boring and Slovenec would all add a field goal each to push the SVC lead to 64-41 after three quarters. The Bearcats would outscore the Titans by a 19-2 margin in the fourth quarter to punctuate the victory.  
 
Aside from Sanmartin's leading effort, freshman Carlee Kilgus added 11 points while Slovenec added nine. Morgan, Boring, Van Volkenburg and Paige Montrose all added seven points for a balanced attack.

Saint Vincent outscored Westminster 44-14 in points off of turnovers.
 
The Bearcats improve to 9-6 overall and 6-2 in PAC play. Meanwhile, the Titans drop to 4-11 overall and 0-8 in league games.
 
Saint Vincent travels to Thomas More for another PAC showdown on Wednesday, Jan. 17. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.