Strong defensive play and solid outside shooting led the Bearcat women's basketball team to a 79-47 victory at home over Bethany College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game.

Babette Sanmartin topped the scoresheet for Saint Vincent with 18 points, while Taylor Boring had a career-high 17, including five 3-pointers.

The Bearcats controlled the game from the start.  Kayla Slovenec set the tone on offense, scoring the game's first four points. Sanmartin added six points, helping to make it an early 11-0 lead.
 
Meanwhile, the SVC defense caused 7 Bison turnovers in the first five minutes.
 
With 2:05 to go in the first quarter, a score by Kelsey Daugherty made the score 12-6, but Taylor Boring hit a pair of threes in the final two minutes to make the score 18-8.
 
Boring hit another three on the first possession of the second quarter to run the lead to 21-8, and Paige Montrose later added three points on a free throw and a layup to make it a 28-9 game. 

The lead grew to 41-17 by the end of the half, as Maria Morgan hit a pair of three pointers and Mara Benvenuti added one of her own in the closing seconds of play.
 
Bethany struggled offensively, with 18 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play.
 
Sanmartin scored 7 points early in the third quarter for SVC, helping to build a 48-19 lead before Daugherty got the hot hand for the Bison, helping her team to an 8-0 run to cut the margin to 50-29 with 3:35 remaining.
 
Another three by Boring ended the run, but the visitors answered with a three of their own, ending the quarter with the score 55-34.
 
It was all SVC in the fourth quarter, as several different Bearcats came off the bench to add points in the closing minutes, with SVC pulling away to a 32-point victory. 

Daugherty was the game's leading scoring tallying 19 for the Bison to go along with 10 rebounds, also a game high.

For SVC, following Sanmartin and Boring on the scoresheet were Kiara Arnold (9 points) and Morgan (7).  Sanmartin and Benvenuti each had 6 rebounds, while Arnold and Erin Giancola had five each. Freshman Carlee Kilgus added a game-high and career-high six steals in the win. 

SVC is now 15-7 overall, 12-3 in the PAC.  Bethany falls to 10-12, 7-8 in the conference.

The Bearcats return to action on Saturday (February 10) traveling to Greenville to face Thiel College at 1PM.