Pitt-Greensburg scored the game-winning basket with 5.8 seconds remaining and dealt the Pitt-Bradford women’s basketball team a heartbreaking 70-67 loss Saturday.
The Panthers entered the day needing a win to secure a first-round bye in the conference tournament but squandered a 12-point second-half lead and turned the ball over with a chance to win.
After the Bobcats cut the Panther lead to 24-23 with 7:13 remaining in the half, Pitt-Bradford responded with a 13-4 scoring run. Anna Colebert’s three with 20 seconds left pushed the advantage to nine, but Pitt-Greensburg converted a pair of free throws before the half concluded to trail 34-27 at the break.
Pitt-Bradford extended its lead to 12 on Ali Rinfrette’s layup at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter, yet the Panthers would go the next five minutes without scoring a point. The Bobcats rattled off seven consecutive points to pull within 43-40, and they scored on their last three possessions of the quarter to go ahead 48-47. With the clock winding down, Darien Lantz drove the length of the floor and hit a jumper from the elbow to put the home team back in front by one.
The teams traded baskets to open the fourth quarter, and Colleen Murphy’s layup at the 5:19 mark extended the visitors lead to 58-55. A pair of free throws moments later stretched it to five.
Kaserra Owens layup with 3:19 remaining trimmed the deficit to one at 62-61, but the Bobcats scored three straight points. Brittany Watts hit a jumper, and Colebert’s baseline floater tied the game at 65 with 1:17 remaining. The Panthers forced a turnover on the ensuing possession, and Rinfrette put the Panthers ahead by two with a layup.
The Bobcats tied the game on their next possession and forced Watts into a missed a jumper with 29 seconds remaining. With the game and shot clock winding down, Pitt-Greensburg’s Lyndy Baer drove to the basket and scored with 5.8 seconds remaining to sink the Panthers. Pitt-Bradford never got a shot off as Colebert’s inbounds pass was tipped and Baer recovered the loose ball.
The Panthers scored 30 points off 30 Bobcat turnovers, but shot just 35 percent from the floor, including 2-20 from behind the arc. Pitt-Greensburg hit 51 percent of its attempts and was 5-7 from three. The Bobcats outrebounded the Panthers by nine, despite surrendering 21 offensive rebounds.
Rinfrette led Pitt-Bradford with 20 points and Watts added 19. No player other player had more than eight. Lantz dished out six assists, and Rinfrette totaled six steals.
Pitt-Bradford ends the regular season 15-10 and finishes the AMCC slate 12-6. The Panthers will host Hilbert on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the conference tournament.
