Another solid defensive effort turned into another win for the Pitt-Bradford women’s basketball team.

Alicia Kimmel scored 17 points, 12 in the second half, as the Panthers won their fourth straight game, 71-60 over Houghton on Tuesday at the KOA Arena.

“A win’s a win, and we’re happy to be 4-1 right now,” said Pitt-Bradford coach Patrick Daniel. “We still have to get better and we will get better, but we’ll take this win.”

Pitt-Bradford led by six at halftime, and the Highlanders were never able to get any closer, despite shooting 52 percent from the floor in the second half.

“Our defense was just OK tonight,” Daniel said. “We did some good things, but we still aren’t doing a good job rebounding on the defensive end.”

UPB did hold a slight edge on the glass (35-32) as well as hold Houghton’s top scorer, Kristen Moose, who came in averaging 20.2 points per game, to just eight.

“We did a good job on her,” Daniel said. “There were some good moments and some not so good moments.”

The lead fluctuated between six and 12 for much of the second half, until Pitt went on a 12-4 run to take control of the game late.

Kaserra Owens scored five points during the run, including a triple that extended the lead to 62-52 with 5:16 remaining, and Kimmel also had a pair of buckets.

Perhaps the biggest key, however, was the play of point guard Abby Brate.

The sophomore was locked in defensively and was a steadying influence offensively down the stretch.

She finished the game with nine points and two assists, but perhaps even more importantly, zero turnovers.

“As a point guard, you have to be a floor general,” Daniel said. “I thought Abby did a tremendous job of playing with poise and made good decisions on when to be aggressive and when to pull it out. She had a very good game for us and that was key.”

While the starters got it going in the second half, it was the play of Pitt-Bradford’s bench that allowed them to jump out to the lead in the first 20 minutes.

In particular, the play of Carly Dalton, Rosa Velazquez and Alex Vinelli, who scored 15 of the team’s first 26 points, was key.

“You have to be ready when your numbers called, and I thought they really stepped up,” Daniel said. “Rosa played a very good first half. She attacked and was aggressive and Carly hit some big shots for us.”

A three from Dalton gave the Panthers a nine-point lead, 26-17, with 5:07 remaining in the half.

The Highlanders cut the deficit to four, 33-29, before Brate hit a shot at the buzzer to give UPB some momentum back.

“That was a really big shot,” Daniel said. 

Geena Sneeringer turned in her usual solid performance, scoring 10 points and pulling down six rebounds.

The Panthers head into a 10-day layoff playing good basketball, and, while Daniel is pleased with where his team is at, he knows they still have to get better.

“There’s some things we need to correct and we will correct them,” he said. “But it’s always good to win on your home court. Once again, we were able to protect our home floor.”

HOUGHTON COLLEGE (60)

Manwaring 2-0-0-4, Ellison 6-7-10-19, Moose 4-0-0-8, Webb 1-0-0-2, Pipher 8-0-0-16, Bealor 0-0-0-0, Fink 2-0-0-4, Enriquez 3-1-2-7, Martuscello 0-0-0-0. Totals: 26-8-12-60.

PITT-BRADFORD (71)

Brate 4-1-3-9, Sneeringer 3-4-6-10, Owens 3-0-0-7, Kimmel 5-7-8-17, Krebs 1-0-0-2, Osborne 2-2-2-7, Dalton 4-0-0-9, Vinelli 2-0-0-4, Velazquez 3-0-0-6, Pawlowski 0-0-0-0. Totals: 27-14-19-71.

Halftime: Pitt-Bradford 35-29

Three-point FGs: Houghton – none; Pitt-Bradford – Owens 1, Osborne 1, Dalton 1