Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team battled back from a slow start to defeat Penn State-Duboit 83-76, earning their first victory of the season.
Alexa Ackerman began the scoring for Pitt-Bradford, driving to the basket for a layup on the Panthers' first possession to answer the Lions opening basket. Her basket was followed by a long scoreless stretch for the Panthers, which lasted more than five minutes and allowed the visitors to take a 10-2 lead. Paige Gratto ended the streak from the line, and then after a turnover, converted a layup to quickly halve the deficit. Penn State-Dubois responded and scored three straight field goals to push their lead back to 10, but the Panthers scored twice inside in the final minute to end the first quarter trailing 16-10.
The Panthers started the second period off on fire, outscoring the Lions 8-2 over the first two minutes of the period to erase the deficit and tie the game at 18. The visitors stayed in front for the next four minutes, restoring their lead to as many as four points before the Panthers would quickly erase it and even the score. Trailing 29-28, Amber Murak made a three to give the Panthers their first lead of the game with 3:38 remaining in the half. Penn State-DuBois quickly responded with a layup before back-to-back long balls from Avery Benzel and Ackerman gave the Panthers the lead for good. The Lions added a pair of late free throws, sending the game to the break with Pitt-Bradford leading 35-32.
In the third period, the Panthers quickly trapped the Lions on the opening possession of the half, quickly stole the ball, and converted the turnover into a layup extending their lead to 5. The visitors quickly responded with back-to-back baskets, but an Ackerman three and a Gratto Layup pushed the Panther lead back to 6. Leading 46-42 with just under 6 minutes remaining in the period, Pitt-Bradford went on a 7-0 run to extend their advantage into double figures. Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh made a three and then after a turnover, hit a layup in transition. The Panthers made another stop and then Ackerman added another layup to end the run. The visitors attempted to cut into the lead multiple times for the remainder of the quarter, however, Ackerman made two more clutch threes to keep the Panthers in front.
The Panthers headed into the final quarter leading by 5 and after Penn State-DuBois began the period with a layup, extended the lead back to 11 when Katie Woolson made threes on consecutive possessions and Abu-Aiadeh added a layup. Ackerman stymied two more Lion comeback attempts with threes midway through the period, however, the Lions did find success inside and eventually cut the Panther lead to 4-points with 2 minutes to go. With an 80-76 lead with 50 seconds on the clock, the Panthers ran a backdoor play to perfection, as Benzel bounced a pass to a cutting Abu-Aiadeh who made a layup through contact. She made the free throw to convert the three-point play, and then the Panthers made one final defensive stop to end the contest.
Alexa Ackerman led the Panthers with 22 points in the win. She made 6 from beyond the arc and also tallied 6 assists. Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh finished with 18, while shooting 7-14 from the field. Paige Gratto also reached double figures, scoring 13 points, while grabbing 8 rebounds. Raquel Sewell led the Panthers with 13 rebounds and also chipped in 7 points.
The win moves the Panthers to 1-4 on the season. They will have nearly 2 weeks off until they return to action on December 7th, when they open AMCC play against Mount Aloysius. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m.
