Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team opened their AMCC campaign on Saturday, hosting Mount Aloysius in the AMCC Game of the Week. The Panthers started strong, but a long scoring drought allowed the visitors to open up an insurmountable lead which the Panthers could not cut into, losing 104-52.

The Panthers got off to a lightning-quick start, jumping out to a 6-0 lead with back-to-back threes by Katie Woolson and Alexa Ackerman. The Mounties came right back, scoring the next 8 points before Ackerman made another long ball to our Pitt-Bradford back in front. The Mount Aloysius run continued after the Ackerman three, as they pushed their advantage to 4 with 6 minutes left in the quarter. Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh hit a three and Paige Gratto answered a jumper with one of her own to keep the Panthers behind by a point. The visitors continued to extend their advantage to 4, but the Panthers kept answering. An Avery Benzel three forced a timeout with 2 minutes to go and the Panthers trailing 22-21. Pitt-Bradford lost their momentum after the break, and the Mounties scored 7 unanswered to end the first with a 29-21 lead. 

The Mount Aloysius run continued as the game moved into the second quarter. The Panthers could not get their offense going and the visitors scored 15 points before Raquel Sewell made a jumper to break the drought after 7 minutes. The basket didn't change the momentum for the Panthers, and the Mounties extended their lead to 20 before a Gratto jump shot with 2:31 to go. The Panthers were outscored 29-7 in the quarter and went to the break trailing 58-28.

Abu-Aiadeh had a strong start to the second half, answering a Mount Aloysius three with one of her own and then converting a three-point play on the next possession. After consecutive Mount Aloysius layups Gratto converted inside, but it was followed by a 22-9 run to end the quarter. Gratto added another jumper in the lane and a free throw in the quarter, while Benzel added a layup, and two from the line.

The visitors scored six of the first seven points of the final quarter before Benzel made the first field foal of the fourth with a layup. The Panthers only mustered 7 points in the quarter, 6 on BEnzel layups, while Ackerman added a free throw. In the quarter, the guests added to their lead, scoring 17 more to win the game 104-52.

Avery Benzel finished as Pitt-Bradford's leading scorer, tallying 13 points to go along with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Paige Gratto recorded a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh added 9 points, while Katie Woolson grabbed 6 rebounds. 

The Panthers drop to 1-5 with the loss and are 0-1 in AMCC play. They will be back in action next Saturday with another AMCC matchup. They will take on Hilbert as part of a doubleheader, with tipoff coming 25 minutes after the completion of game one.