Altoona, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team picked up a big road win on Wednesday night as they defeated Penn State-Altoona 67-63.
The game got off to a quick start as the hosts made three free throws on the opening possession, but Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh was able to answer immediately with a three-pointer. The three started an 8-0 run as a few possessions later, Alexa Ackerman added another long ball and Paige Gratto made a layup. The Lions battled back, scoring 8 straight of their own to take a short 3-point lead. McKenna Kelly ended the run with a layup and then Abu-Aiadeh and Ackerman went back to back from long distance once again to take the lead. After the Lions made another three, Gratto was able to make one on the other end, leading to a 20-16 Panther lead after the first.
The Panthers pushed their lead to 7 after four minutes in the second when Kelly and Abigail Goss made a pair of layups around a Penn State-Altoona three and Gratto added two from the line. The free throws were the start of a long dry spell for the Panthers, which saw them limited to a McKenna Kelly layup and two more from the stripe for most of the final six minutes, allowing the Lions to erase the lead and go ahead by two. Pitt-Bradford was able to send the game to halftime tied at 32 when Goss made a layup in the final seconds.
The hosts scored first to start the second half, but the Panthers took control, scoring 11 of the next 13 points to restore a 7-point advantage. Raquel Sewell started the rally with a jumper and then Abu-Aiadeh and Gratto combined for a pair of threes to finish it. After a timeout, the Lions rallied, outscoring the Panthers 13-4 to turn the Pitt-Bradford lead into a four-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter.
Despite a pair of Sewell free throws to start the 4th, the Lion run continued in the final period. The Panther deficit reached a high water mark of 7 points after a layup with 7:22 left, but a Katie WOolson three-pointer started a final rally for Pitt-Bradford. The Panthers attempted to cut further into the lead on layups by Avery Benzel and Gratto, but could not hold the hosts off the board, as they still trailed by 5 points with three minutes left. Trailing 61-56, Abu Aiadeh made another three for the Panthers, which was quickly followed by a timeout.
The final two minutes into the game turned into the Raquel Sewell Show for the Panthers. After the timeout, Sewell blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound on the defensive end, and then converted a layup to tie the game at 61. Se secured another defensive rebound on the following possession and then made a short jumper to put the Panthers in front and a possession later extended the lead to 4 with another midrange shot. The Lions closed the gap to two with a pair of free throws, but Sewell made a layup off of an inbounds lob to put the game away for the Panthers with less than 10 seconds to go.
Paige Gratto led the Panthers with 18 points. She also had 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Yasmine Abu-Aiadeh made 5 of 8 from beyond the arc to finish with 16 points. Sewell recorded her first career double-double in the game, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Alexa Ackerman scored 6 points and dished out 8 assists in the victory.
The win moves the Panthers to 6-9 overall, with a 3-6 record in AMCC play. They will be back in action at home this weekend when they host Mount Aloysius at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
