BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Pitt-Bradford women’s basketball team could not overcome early struggles in a 64-58 defeat on the road to the Medaille Mavericks on Wednesday.
Sophomore Allison Osborne surged for a season-high 21 points, five rebounds and one assist.
Pitt-Bradford (14-10, 10-7) gave the Mavericks a run for their money in the opening minutes of action, tying the game twice in under four minutes of play.
The Mavericks came alive offensively moments later and quickly added to their slim lead. Osborne drained a jump shot at the 12:37 mark to bring the Panthers within seven points.
Pitt-Bradford managed to clip the deficit to one point, 22-21, with just over eight minutes remaining. The score remained close heading into the final minutes of the first period.
The Panthers trailed by five points with two minutes showing on the clock. Despite a layup by freshman Brittany Watts and another bucket from Osborne, Pitt-Bradford headed to the locker room down 34-28 to the home team.
The Panthers finished the first half shooting 31.6 percent from the field, including 44.4 percent from three. They did not connect on two free throw attempts.
Medaille shot 42.3 percent for the first half, including 25 percent from outside the arc. The Mavericks were 11 of 13 from the line.
Medaille (18-6, 15-2) and Pitt-Bradford traded buckets to begin the second half, leaving the point differential where it stood heading into the break. Another layup from Watts and a bucket from outside the paint by junior Alicia Kimmel had the Panthers within two points.
The attempt at taking the lead was short lived however, as the Mavericks cashed in on several opportunities in a row at the bucket. The Panthers refused to give up as the lead fluctuated for several minutes with each team taking turns finding the net.
Trailing by eight points with 7:16 to play, Pitt-Bradford went back-to-back on quick shots off the glass to cut that deficit in half. A successful trip to the line for Medaille’s Dani Reinwald put the lead back at six with 5:19 to go.
With barely a minute left to play and the clock dwindling to expiration, sophomore Abby Brate finished a jumper to bring the deficit to four points. The Panthers went on to miss three shots in the final 36 seconds to surrender the victory to the Mavericks.
Pitt-Bradford finished the night shooting 34.3 percent from the floor, including 26.7 percent from outside the arc. The Panthers were six of 10 from the line.
Medaille left the court shooting 39.7 percent from the field, including just 23.1 percent from three. The Mavericks were 15 of 19 from the charity stripe.
Pitt-Bradford hits the road for its final regular season contest of the season Saturday. The Panthers travel to Franciscan with tipoff set for 3 p.m.
