GREENSBURG, PA- The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg women's basketball team dropped its regular season finale by a narrow margin of 70-67 to La Roche University on Wednesday night. The Bobcats finish the regular season at 16-9 overall and 13-6 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, while La Roche improves to 17-6 and 17-2 with one game remaining on their regular season slate.
Colleen Murphy netted double digits for the fifth-straight game, as she collected a team high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 3-of-5 from distance. Nadege Durand earned a double-double with 14 points and a game best 11 rebounds. Sidney McCully added 11 points and Shaqouia McCray 10 to round out four Bobcats in double figures.
Durand began the game scoring the first five points of the game, as Pitt-Greensburg led for the first four minutes of the contest. La Roche earned their first lead of the contest at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter, when they went up 9-8. The Redhawk lead got to as much as seven in the first quarter. Maddy Coddington made a layup in the closing seconds of the opening frame to make it 21-16 after one quarter.
Seven of the first nine points of the second quarter were scored by the Bobcats to tie things up at 23. UPG tied it one more time in the quarter, but could not take the lead. The Redhawks stretched their advantage out to eight in the final minute of the first half, but the last three points were scored by Pitt-Greensburg to make the score 41-36 at the half.
Continuing the scoring streak into the second half, Pitt-Greensburg opened with five straight points to tie the score at 41. Murphy capped off a 12-3 run and erupted the crowd with a three pointer that put the Bobcats ahead for the first time since the five-minute mark of the first quarter, at the 3:15 remaining in the third quarter.
La Roche scored the next basket and then four Bobcat points to end the third stanza made it 57-52, UPG, heading into the final 10 minutes.
The fourth quarter began with a Pitt-Greensburg bucket to give them their largest lead of the night, seven points (59-52). La Roche rattled off three straight triples and a layup for an 11-0 run to take the lead back. Once the Redhawks got it back they wouldn't give it up for the rest of the game.
Durand and Murphy scored consecutive baskets to trim the Bobcat deficit to just one (68-67) with 1:43 to play, however the Bobcats would not score again.
Coddington dished out a season-best six assists to lead UPG. La Roche clinched the AMCC regular season title with the win.
Pitt-Greensburg has secured the 4th seed in the AMCC Tournament coming up next week. They will host their quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday evening at 7 pm inside Chambers Hall against a to be determined opponent.
