Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball was back in action in the KOA Arena on Wednesday night, as they took on Houghton in non-conference action. The Panthers got off to a slow start and would never recover, as they lost the game 69-52.
The Panthers fell behind immediately as the highlanders scored on their first possession, and then also scored the next 15 points. It took Pitt-Bradford over 5 minutes to get on the board when Paige Gratto hit a free throw. Houghton extended their lead to 19 after a three with 3:25 to go, but the Panthers closed the quarter on a 6-0 run. Gratto started the rally with a layup off a feed from Alexa Ackerman. Avery Benzel added a pair of free throws and McKenna Kelly made another basket inside to send the game to the 2nd with Pitt-Bradford trailing 23-10.
Houghton scored 5 points on their first two possessions of the 2nd quarter before Gratto made back-to-back layups for the Panthers. Trailing 32-16 Amber Cross pumped up the home crowd after converting a three-point play. Unfortunately, the Panthers could not build momentum off the play, as they were only able to score 3 points over the final 6 minutes of the half. Houghton added 12 points to their total in the same stretch, to take a 44-22 lead into the locker room.
Pitt-Bradford started the second half in a similar fashion to the first, allowing the Highlanders to score the first six points of the 3rd quarter. Gratto started another rally for the Panthers with a free throw and a layup, which was followed by a quick steal from Alexa Ackerman and a subsequent fastbreak layup to cut the lead down to 23. Pitt-Bradford could not build any more momentum off of the short rally, as Houghton answered every Panther basket for the remainder of the third. They even added to their lead late, hitting a layup in the final seconds moving the game into its final period with the score 63-34 in favor of the Highlanders.
The Panthers fought back in the 4th, as they were able to slowly whittle away the lead. They kept the Highlanders off the board for 6 minutes, scoring 9 of their own in the span. Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh bookended the rally, starting it with a three from the wing and then ending it with a driving layup. Cross and Gratto each added baskets in the lane during the run. Houghton was able to break the run at the 3:45 match, but it only temporarily slowed the Panthers, who scored the next 9 straight. Off of a Panther timeout, Grotto made a free throw and then Abigail Goss hit a putback layup after Gratto missed the second. Avery Benzel drove to the basket on the next possession and was able to make a driving layup while getting fouled. She converted the three-point lead from the charity stripe. Following another stop, Kelly made a three from the left wing, forcing a Houghton time-out and a quick substitution. The change shut things down for the PAntehrs, as the Highlanders locked down for the final two minutes of play, adding 4 final points to their lead to finish the game.
Paige Gratto led the Panthers with 19 points. She also grabbed 5 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Amber Cross added 9 points off the bench. Alexa Ackerman was limited to 3 points but was able to grab 4 rebounds and tally 4 assists and 3 steals. Raquel Sewell had a strong game in the post for the Panthers, grabbing 5 defensive rebounds, while scoring 3.
Prior to the start of the game, the Panthers halted their warmup as one of their players was being rewarded for her hard work as part of the Seneca Battalion ROTC program. Abigail Goss was awarded for her hard work with the battalion as she received her ROTC Scholarship which will cover 100% of her tuition and fees, along with a monthly stipend and a book stipend each year.
Pitt-Bradford drops to 2-1 after the loss. They will be back in action next Tuesday, as they will host Penn State-DuBois as part of a daytime doubleheader. The game is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. in KOA Arena.
