GROVE CITY, Pa: The Pitt-Greensburg women's basketball team opened the 2014-2015 season in winning fashion, handing the Wolverines of Grove City College a 69-54 defeat on their home court. 20 points from
Kayla Dames (Oakdale, PA, Chartiers Valley) and 14 from
Emily Nelson (New Stanton, PA, Hempfield) would pace the Bobcats as the pair would pick up right where they left off from their All-Conference performances last season.
After trading buckets with Grove City over the first four minutes of the game, Pitt-Greensburg would take the lead at the 15:35 minute mark on a Nelson three-pointer, giving them a 12-9 advantage. The Bobcats would hold onto that lead and build upon it, growing the lead to as many as 12 points after closing the half on a 7-0 run. A
Sylvia Stuart (Harrisburg, PA, Central Dauphin East) layup capped the half's scoring as UPG would head to the locker room up 31-19.
The second half would see more of the same from the Bobcats. They would let the Wolverines cut the deficit to 8 points on two occasions but would stretch the lead back to double digits at 41-31 with 13:20 to play. Pitt-Greensburg would remain in command over the next 10 minutes expanding the lead to 20 points after a
Brittany Butterworth (Howard, PA, Bald Eagle) layup made the score 62-42 with just under four minutes on the clock. Dames would close out the afternoon's scoring for the Bobcats on a three point play. She'd covert her free-throw after picking up a foul on a successful layup with six ticks remaining in the game. A GCC three-pointer with two seconds remaining would bring us to our 69-54 final in UPG's favor.
The Bobcats finished the day shooting 52% from the floor and 44% from behind the three-point arc. As efficient as they were offensively, what's even more impressive was the defensive effort that held the opposition to just 28% shooting and 17% from three.
Coach Eaton will look for this effort to continue as the Bobcats return home to face Waynesburg University on Tuesday, November 18
th with tip set for 7:00pm.
