ERIE, Pa. – The Pitt-Greensburg women's basketball team used a 13-0 run to start the second half to pull away with a 60-51 win over Penn State Behrend in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Wednesday night.
The Bobcats (13-9, 10-5 AMCC) had balanced scoring with 10 players getting on the scoreboard, led by Kayla Dames off the bench with a team-best 12 points. Brittany Butterworth added 11 points, six assists and two steals to help Pitt-Greensburg sweep the season series for the first time since 2008-09.
Brianna Bayly (Imperial, PA/West Allegheny) scored a career and game-high 23 points, going 8-for-9 from the charity stripe. Brittany Kiger (White Oak, PA/McKeesport) earned her third double-double with a career-high 14 points and 14 boards.
As a team, the Lions (3-18, 2-13 AMCC) went 16-for-21 from the line and held the advantage a 39-29 advantage on the glass but could not recover from the early second-half run by the Bobcats.
Pitt-Greensburg took an early lead in the first half on three straight triples to open the game for an 11-4 edge. After the Behrend timeout, the Lions went on a 6-0 spurt to pull within one. The Bobcats managed to regain the seven-point lead at the 5:41 mark, but once again Behrend came back to make it 21-20. Bayly scored the final three points of the half to face a two-point deficit when the Lions returned from the locker rooms.
Kiger made the first bucket for Behrend in the second stanza, knotting the game at 25-all. From there, Pitt-Greensburg clamped down on defense and pulled ahead 38-25. The double-digit lead held up until the 6:55 mark.
Bayly recorded eight of her 23 points in the last minute to make it a nine-point game at the end.
The Lions return to action on Saturday against La Roche. Game time is 4 p.m.