Bradford, Pa. The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team overcame a slow start to take a 4th quarter lead against Mount Aloysius on Saturday afternoon but ultimately fell to the Mounties by a score of 55-50.
The visitors jumped out to a 4-0 lead as the Panthers were unable to get on the board until Ashley Hall made a pair of free throws after over three and a half minutes of play. The Panthers were not able to build any momentum after the free throws as the Mounties added 5 more before Katie Woolson made a putback layup with 3:51 left in the quarter. They pushed their lead to 12-4 before Woolson added a free throw in the last minute.
Pitt-Bradford refound their form as the game moved into the second quarter, as they scored the first six points of the period. Abigail Goss made a putback layup on the opening possession of the quarter and Trinity Lockwood-Morris made a jumper after a defensive stop. a few possessions later McKenna Kelly was able to drive to the basket for a layup to cut the Mountie advantage to one point. The guests quickly responded, scoring five straight of their own. Woolson made a three on a pass from Alexa Ackerman to get the deficit back to one point. With 1:33 left in the half, Abigail Goss made a layup to keep the Panthers within one possession but saw her effort answered with five straight to push the advantage right back to 7 points. Daizjah Brown was able to make two late free throws to send the game to the half with the score 25-20 in favor of the Mounties.
The Mounties made a three on their opening possession of the 2nd half, but Kelly scored 6 unanswered over a two-minute span to get the lead back to 2 points. Pitt-Bradford was unable to build further momentum, as the Mounties quickly scored six straight of their own to get their advantage back to eight. The Panthers held the mounties to just one free throw over the final two minutes of the quarter, while making four of their own, keeping the deficit at 5 heading into the final frame.
Mount Aloysius got on the board first in the 4th and answered a Summer Anderson layup with a three, but the Panthers were able to make another run, scoring 9 in a row to take their first lead of the game. Anderson made another basket inside to start the run and Lockwood-Morris followed with a pair of free throws. Goss pulled the Panthers to within two with a layup before Alexa Ackerman drilled a three from the corner to put the Panthers in front 43-42. The teams each traded a pair of made free throws before the Panthers' offense hit another dry spell as they were unable to score for a 3-and-a-half minute span, allowing Mount Aloysius to build a 51-45 lead. The Panthers pulled back to be within two points after four free throws, but they would get no closer as Mount Aloysius made four in a row down the stretch to put the game away. Brown hit one final free throw with 5 seconds remaining to close the game.
McKenna Kelly led the Panthers with 12 points. She also had 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Abigail Goss was able to score 8 points and grab 12 rebounds as she was limited to just 22 minutes due to foul trouble. Katie Woolson had 6 points and 6 rebounds, while Alexa Ackerman tallied 5 assists.
Pitt-Bradford drops to 3-17 on the season with a 1-9 record in AMCC play. They will return to action on Wednesday, February 8th, as they host Penn State-Behrend at 7:00 p.m. in KOA Arena.
