Pittsburgh, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team hit the road on Saturday, looking to build momentum off a midweek win. The Panthers took on the Carlow Celtics and despite a 29-point effort from sophomore Paige Gratto, the Panthers fell 75-65.
The Panthers struggled to start their offensive game and were kept off the board for the first 4:50, falling behind 12-0. They finally broke through on a pair of Avery Benzel free throws. The Celtics quickly answered with a layup, but the Panthers continued to build, scoring 5 unanswered through a Benzel and three points from Paige Gratto. Benzel made a three from the wing with just over a minute remaining, but the Panthers could not get any further and trailed 19-10 after one quarter.
Carlow struck first again in the 2nd quarter, but Pitt-Bradford stayed with the hosts early. Matching 5 early points with a layup by Amaria Mims and a three by Amber Murak. The Murak basket was the last before the Panthers had another scoring drought. The second cold spell of the game lasted nearly five minutes and ended with a Gratto free throw with the score 33-16 in favor of the Celtics. In the final minutes, Benzel and Mims both added layups and the Panthers went back to the locker room trailing 35-20.
Pitt-Bradford made some adjustments in the locker room and also seemed to find their range, as they came out of the halftime break firing. The Panthers made threes on three of their first four possessions. Benzel made the first on the initial possession of the third quarter, and after her effort was matched by the Celtics, Murak, and Gratto each hit from deep to momentarily cut the deficit to single digits. Carlow struck back and pushed their advantage back to 13 points and then scored 5 points on one possession due to a Panther technical foul and a three to go ahead 51-35. Benzel and Alexa Ackerman each made three-pointers late, and Gratto made a short jumper at the buzzer to send the game to the fourth with Pitt-Bradford down 56-43.
In the fourth, Gratto took over, scoring the Panthers' first 15 points of the quarter. Pitt-Bradford used Grattos hot streak to chip away at the lead and trailed by 10 points with 4:31 left in the game. Raquel Sewell became the second Panther to score in the quarter when she made a putback layup to match a pair of Carlow free throws to keep the deficit at ten points. With the game in its final minutes, Gratto answered a three with an old-fashioned three-point play and Murak converted a layup to cut the lead to eight. Unfortunately, the Celtics answered the Murak basket with a layup of their own and then the Panthers were not able to score over the final 55 seconds, ending the contest.
Paige Gratto finished as the game's leading scorer, totaling 29 points on 11 made field goals, including four threes. She also recorded a double-double, grabbing 11 rebounds. Of her 29 points, 25 of them came in the second half, including an 18-point fourth quarter. Avery Benzel also reached double figures, scoring 17 points, a career-best. She also grabbed 13 rebounds, recording the first double-double of her career. Amber Murak added 8 points and 6 assists, while Amaria Mims finished with 6 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
The loss drops the Panthers to 3-12 on the season with a 2-10 record in AMCC play. They will return to KOA Arena for their midweek matchup, as they will host Alfred State at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
