PITTSBURGH - Chatham Women's Basketball began PAC play with a victory on Wednesday night, defeating Saint Vincent (0-4, 0-1 PAC) 72-60 at the Athletic & Fitness Center. The Cougars (3-1, 1-0) shot 53 percent in the second half en route to the win.
 
The two teams traded punches for the entire first quarter, with neither side leading by more than three at any point. Junior Madison Nereu was the Cougars' leading scorer in the opening frame with 4 points. Chatham began to pull away in the second quarter by opening the period with a 12-2 run which was spurred by five points from graduate student Ashlie Louden. The Bearcats answered with a 7-2 run to cut the score to 29-22 before graduate student Lauren Keel scored a putback layup at the halftime buzzer.
 
The Cougars began the second half on an 8-0 run. Graduate student Leah Harkenrider's three pointer extended the Chatham lead to 17, their largest of the game. Four points from Nereu at the end of the quarter gave the Cougars a 55-43 lead going into the final frame. Saint Vincent cut the Chatham lead to 11 midway through the fourth quarter and to nine with just over two minutes to play, but that was the closest they would get. Louden's three pointer put the Cougars up by double digits until the final buzzer.
 
Louden was the game's leading scorer, netting 23 points for Chatham. The Beallsville, Ohio native shot 4-7 from three point range, grabbed a team high 6 rebounds and had 3 steals. Nereu scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting for the Cougars. Junior Zeli Rodriguez blocked 2 Bearcat shots and pulled down 5 rebounds. Graduate student Dominique Pacheco had a team high 5 assists and 3 takeaways. Junior Hannah Chenault recorded 9 points with 4 assists for Chatham. Senior Charjae Brock had 5 rebounds and 3 steals for the Cougars.
 
Makenna Maier was the leading scorer for Saint Vincent with 19 points on 7-12 shooting. Maier also led the game in rebounds with 11. Camdon Bashor recorded 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Bearcats. Brooke Evans recorded a game high 7 assists.
 
Chatham will travel to Meadville on Saturday to take on Allegheny College at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the PAC Sports Network.