Fourth-Quarter Push Gets Lions Past Pitt-Bradford

BRADFORD, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend women's basketball team erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter by outscoring Pitt-Bradford 30-14 to pick up a 77-71 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) win on Saturday afternoon.

The Lions (10-13, 8-8 AMCC) shot 78.6 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter, going 11-for-14 from the floor while holding the Panthers to just seven field goals over 10 minutes for the come-from-behind win. Kourtney Beamesderfer (Rebersburg, PA/Penns Valley) had 10 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter, while Autumn Byes (Erie, PA/Villa Maria Academy) and Emily Kinecki (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) tallied seven points in the final period.

Kinecki finished with 21 points and Byes recorded 17 points, while Erika Woll (Erie, PA/Mercyhurst Prep) also tallied 17 points in the win.

Trailing in the fourth until the final 31 seconds of the game, Nicole Boyer (Blairsville, PA/Blairsville) made a layup  to give Behrend a 72-71 lead. After a missed Pitt-Bradford layup, the Panthers sent the Lions to the line where they went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe in the last 12 seconds for the six-point win.

The Lions never led in the game up until Boyer's layup with time expiring in the fourth. Behrend got within one at halftime at 38-37, but the Panthers built their largest lead at the end of the third quarter at 57-45 with 21 seconds on the clock. Pitt-Bradford took a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter but near perfect shooting by the Lions got them back in the game and the conference victory.

The win marks the second for Behrend over Pitt-Bradford to complete the regular-season sweep.

The Lions return to action on Wednesday for their final home game against Hilbert. Game begins at 8 p.m.