First-Half Blitz Lifts Lions Into AMCC Semifinals

ERIE, Pa.  – The Penn State Behrend women's basketball team advances to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Semifinals this weekend thanks to a 75-54 win over Pitt-Greensburg in the first round on Tuesday evening in the Junker Center.

The third-seeded Lions (21-4) had four players in double figures to defeat the sixth-seeded Bobcats (10-16) for a third time this season. Behrend will face No. 2 Medaille on Friday night at the top-seed La Roche, beginning at 8 p.m.

Brittany Wilwohl (Erie, PA/Villa Maria Academy) led all scorers with 18 points behind 7-for-11 shooting, while Holly Bourquin (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) shot 80 percent from the floor for 17 points and eight boards.

Once again, Casey Stanton led Pitt-Greensburg with 14 points and 11 rebounds for the double-double.

Down 21-18 at the 8:23 mark of the first half, the Lions went on a 23-2 blitz to take over the game and pull away from the Bobcats for good.

Behrend shot 55.2 percent from the field in the opening stanza and knocked down five triples, including one from Kimmy Pol (Erie, PA/Collegiate Academy) to start the run and knot the game at 21-all. The Lions could not be stopped, while their defense was doing just that to Pitt-Greensburg.

Behrend hit for seven consecutive shots, missing its final jumper with nine seconds before halftime to extend the lead to 41-23. Bourquin and Julia Myers (Edinboro, PA/General McLane) each made two baskets and Pol added another trey.  Abby Henderson (Meadville, PA/Meadville) knocked one in from behind the arc and Hannah Novotny (Cabot, PA/Knoch) scored off an Aly Eagle (Harmony, PA/Seneca Valley).

Pol, one of the four players in double digits, tallied all 10 points in the first half to give the Lions an 18-point cushion.

Behrend did not give the Bobcats a chance to get back in the game in the second half. The Lions dominated on the boards with a 46-34 edge, getting 10 from Myers to go along with her 10 points to register her eighth double-double.