Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team picked up an important win on Wednesday as they defeated Alfred State 84-60 in KOA Arena. The Panthers sank 15 threes in the win, including 8 from Alexa Ackerman, who tied the program record for made three-point fgs in a game.
The Panthers fell behind the visitors early on, as they failed to score in their first 5 possessions, while the Pioneers converted two free throws. Amber Murak kick-started the Panther offense after two minutes, leaking down the court on a defensive rebound where PAige Gratto found her on the break for an easy layup. Murak added another layup two possessions later and then after 4 minutes of action, Alexa Ackerman pulled up for a three to force an Alfred State timeout with Pitt-Bradford ahead 7-2. The Pioneers scored off the timeout, but Ackerman answered with another long ball on the ensuing possession. Ackerman stayed hot from beyond the arc in the quarter, sinking two more threes to extend the Panther advantage to 9 points. Avery Benzel added a late free throw and a three of her own to end the first quarter with Pitt-Bradford leading 22-13.
Pitt-Bradford continued their run in the second quarter as Ackerman and Gratto found Sewell inside on the first two possessions for a pair of layups. With 7:48 remaining in the half, Alfred State ended their dry spell, however, the Panthers answered with jumpers from Murak and Gratto, pushing the lead to 15. The Pioneers scored 5 unanswered over the next minute, but the Panthers quickly restored their lead with threes by Murak and Ackerman, both off of feeds from Katie Woolson. Ackerman added her sixth three of the half after a Pioneer layup before the visitors finished the first half with 5 straight to head to the locker room with the score 39-27 in favor of the Panthers.
After Alfred State opened the second half with a three-point play, Gratto found her rhythm, making two short jumpers and a three on consecutive possessions. Unfortunately for the Panthers, her hot streak was matched by the visitors and they finished the exchange with a 10-point lead. Ackerman sank a three in transition to maintain the lead and then a few minutes later Murak caught fire, making a mid-range jump shot and back-to-back threes. She followed that with an assist on an Amaria Mims layup to push the Panther advantage to 20 points.
The Pioneers put together a comeback over four minutes, covering the last two minutes of the third and first two of the fourth, scoring 11 unanswered to trim the deficit into single digits. A Murak three got the Panthers back on the board and then after the teams exchanged layups, Pitt-Bradford locked down on the defensive end, keeping the Pioneers from scoring for two and a half minutes. They built momentum off of defensive stops and extended the advantage to 23. Woolson made a corner three to begin the rally, and then Murak intercepted a pass and raced to the basket for a fast-break layup. After a stop, Ackerman drove to the basket and made a layup through contact. The call resulted in a technical foul on the Alfred State bench, which led to two Ackerman free throws and a Sewell layup. With under a minute to go, Ackerman found her range one final time, sinking a three from the left wing to tie Ali Rinfrette's record of 8 threes in a game. Gratto added three free throws in the last seconds to close the game.
Alexa Ackerman led all scorers on the historic night, scoring 29 points. She made 8-19 from deep and also added 4 assists and 3 steals. Amber Murak also had a strong game, tying her career-best with 24 points. She made 10-18 from the field, including 4-10 from beyond the arc. Paige Gratto added 14 points in the win. Katie Woolson scored 3 points for the Panthers, but affected the game in other ways, registering 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 7 steals. Raquel Sewell was limited to 7 minutes due to foul trouble but scored 8 points on 4-6 shooting. Avery Benzel led the team with 8 rebounds, while Amaria Mims grabbed 5.
The Panthers move to 4-15 on the season with the win and improve to 3-10 in AMCC play. They will be back in action on Saturday when they host Penn State-Behrend on Senior Day. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
