GREENSBURG, PA- The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg women's basketball team collected their third straight win on Tuesday (Jan. 15) in dominating fashion over Mount Aloysius College, 78-33. The win margin is the largest for UPG since an 84-39 win on January 18, 2014 against Hilbert College. Pitt-Greensburg was ahead by 48 points with 23 seconds left which was the largest lead of the season thus far.
The Bobcats even their overall record to 7-7 and improve to 5-4 in conference, while the Mounties drop to 2-12 and 1-8 in the AMCC.
Nadege Durand paced UPG with 18 points and eight rebounds. Shaquoia McCray led a trio of Bobcats with 10 points, while also corralling a game-best 15 rebounds for a double-double. Maddie Sitler and Maddy Coddington joined McCray with 10 points apiece.
The Bobcats took three minutes to find the bottom of the net, but that was no problem. The first basket was a three pointer Cat Gollihugh to go up 3-2. Pitt-Greensburg went on to tally 15 more points over the final seven minutes of the first quarter, while holding the Mounties to just two more.
The run continued into the second quarter to get the lead to 26-6 at 5:56, the first 20-point advantage of the night. The Bobcats kept pushing and went on a 15-4 run to end the half and take a 31-point (41-10) edge into halftime.
The lock down defense by the Blue and Gold held Mount Aloysius without a three pointer (0-8) and 3-of-19 shooting in the first half. The Bobcats corralled every defensive rebound opportunity in the half, leaving the Mounties with zero offensive boards in the first twenty minutes. Meanwhile, on the other end UPG pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, leading to nine second chance points.
The 10 points allowed in the first half is the lowest opponent score for a half in recorded history.
Pitt-Greensburg stayed ahead by more than 30 points the entire length of the second half. The largest lead of the game and of the season by the Bobcats (48 points) came on two converted free throws by Sidney McCully with 23 seconds left in the game, which made the score 78-30.
UPG owned the stat sheet. They outrebounded the Mounties 52-23, including 21-1 on the offensive side. Assists came on 24 of the Bobcats 29 field goals; Gollihugh led the squad with seven, her most of the season. Pitt-Greensburg forced 23 Mountie turnovers and turned that into 28 points for themselves. Inside the paint the Bobcats outscored Mount Aloysius 26-12.
All 10 Bobcats that saw minutes on the evening found the scoring column with at least one field goal.
A two-game road trip to New York is in the Bobcats near future. Saturday (Jan. 18) Pitt-Greensburg will be at Alfred College for a 3 pm tip off. Then, on Monday (Jan. 20) they will head over to Buffalo, NY for a matchup with D'Youville College at 3 pm.
