St. Mary's City, Md. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford women's basketball team began their 2022-23 campaign on Friday night, falling to Hunter College 82-66 in their opening game at the Seahawk Invitational, hosted by St. Mary's College of Maryland.
The Panthers fell behind after dropping the first quarter 23-14. They were able to keep the deficit at 9 heading into the break after tying the 2nd 24-24. In the 3rd, the Panthers were able to use a late rally to cut into the lead but were unable to keep the momentum in the 4th as Hunter pushed their margin of victory to 16.
Hunter was able to open the scoring after a minute of play, but the Panthers quickly responded as Cassidy King opened the Panthers' account for the year with a jump shot off a pass from Ashley Hall. The Hawks quickly scored 8 straight to go ahead 10-2, but two Hall three-pointers around a Hunter basket cut the lead in half. The Panthers went cold for a 3-minute stretch that saw the Hawks push their lead to 9 before Avery Benzel ended the streak with a three-point play. Hunter scored 6 straight as the game moved toward the end of the first, but Cailey Barnett limited the damage with a pull-up jumper to finish the quarter with the Panthers trailing 23-14.
Both teams exchanged a basket and a long ball in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter. The Hawks increased their lead to 15 with 7:09 left in the half, which they were able to maintain until a king layup and Barnett three cut the lead to single digits. A four-point play from the Hawks slowed the comeback, but a Hall three and inside baskets from King and Benzel cut the lead down to 6. The teams traded baskets heading to halftime before a last-second three for the Hawks restored the 9-point lead at the break.
Benzel started the second half with a jumper and following a Hunter three another one-two punch from a King Layup and Barnett three cut the lead to 5, its smallest since the opening moments. The Hawks were able to respond and slowly push their lead back into double digits with a minute left in the third. In the last minute, Abigail Goss completed a three-point play to send the game to the 4th with the Panthers trailing 61-53.
A King bucket started the 4th and cut the lead back to six, but it was followed by a three-minute scoring drought, that saw the Hawks extend their lead to 16. Pitt-Bradford had one final rally as Goss scored 6 straight for the Panthers and Alexa Ackerman made a layup with three to go to cut the deficit to 9. Unfortunately, the Panthers were only able to score 3 more points over the last three minutes, as Hunter closed out the game.
Cailey Barnett led the Panthers with 21 points. She made 8-19 from the field and hit 5-10 from beyond the arc. Cassidy King also reached double figures, finishing with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Avery Benzel and Ashley Hall scored 9 each in the game, with Hall leading the team with 9 rebounds and Benzel adding 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Abigail Goss added 9 points and 5 rebounds off the bench.
The Panthers are 0-1 after opening night. They will have a chance to get into the win column right away, as they will take on the hosts, St. Mary's of Maryland in the consolation game of the Seahawk Invitational tomorrow. Tipoff is slated for 1:00 p.m.
