Posted: Nov 13, 2024
Bradford, PA. — The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team held its home opener on Wednesday night, hosting the Keuka College Wolves in KOA Arena. The Panthers held a 4th-quarter lead but could not hang on, falling 63-57.
The Panthers started slow, allowing the visitors to jump out to an 11-2 lead, but battled back late in the quarter, using a pair of layups from Amaria Mims and a midrange jumper from Raquel Sewell to cut the lead to 14-10 after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Pitt-Bradford's deficit grew to 7 points, but the Panthers rallied again, eventually tying the game at 20 with a Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh three. They were never able to jump in front of the Wolves, and eventually ended the half trailing 30-25.
The Panthers came out of the break firing on all cylinders, scoring the first 4 baskets of the 2nd half to take their first lead of the game. Paige Gratto had 3 of the baskets in the stretch and assisted on the other. Gratto added a late layup to tie the game at 40 in the final minute of the quarter, but Keuka made a putback at the buzzer to send the game to the 4th with the score 42-40.
Amber Murak and Abu-Aiadeh made threes in the final quarter to keep the Panthers even with the Wolves but went cold for a two-minute stretch that allowed Keuka to take a 6-point advantage. Gratto added a late layup and three-pointer but could not make up the deficit as the Panthers fell 63-57.
Paige Gratto led all scorers with 22 points and also grabbed 15 rebounds. Amber Murak scored 10 points off the bench. Raquel Sewell grabbed 11 rebounds and chipped in 8 points. Avery Benzel scored 3 points but tallied 8 rebounds and 4 assists.
The Panthers fall to 0-2 after the loss. They will look to get in the win column this weekend when they travel to Williamsport to take on Penn College on Saturday. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.
