PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Chatham Women's Basketball (9-3, 2-2 PAC) ran away with their second PAC win of the season in the fourth quarter this afternoon, taking the game 85-54 over Thiel (5-8, 0-4).
 
Senior Madison Nereu scored a game-high 20 points by knocking down 10 of her 12 field goal attempts, pulled down a team-high 8 rebounds and dished out 6 assists. Senior Maria Barela netted 14 points for the Cougars on 4-7 shooting and made 5 of her 6 free throw attempts. Senior Alyssa Laukus scored 10 points with 6 assists, and Senior Julia Calvin put up 10 points on 4-7 from the field.
 
Chatham scored the first 8 points of the contest on buckets from Barela, Jordyn Jensen, Nereu, and Laukus. The Tomcats would cut their deficit to 3, but triples from Emily Venick and Calvin put the Cougars ahead 18-11 after the opening quarter. Chatham went on a 9-2 run to start quarter two, and would extend its lead to 21 on a Nereu layup with four minutes until halftime. The Cougars would get just one more basket in the second quarter but led 41-24 at the break.
 
The Tomcats made it an 11-point game three minutes into the second half. Chatham stayed effective on offense, however, and two triples from Hannah Stephanites gave the Cougars a 55-37 advantage. Thiel scored the final 5 points of the third quarter, but 13 points is as close as they would get for the remainder of the game. A Tomcat three-pointer made the score 71-54 with just under six minutes to go, and Chatham would close out the victory on a 14-0 run that included 6 points from Ashley Lippold.
 
The Cougars shot a scorching 53.2 percent from the field (33-62), their second-highest percentage of the season, including 40.9 percent from three (9-22) which was Chatham's highest three-point percentage on the campaign. Thiel's 41.2 percent three-point percentage (7-17) was the second highest the Cougars have allowed in 2025-26. Thiel's 27.3 percent free-throw percentage (3-11) was the lowest by a Chatham opponent since Feb. 22, 2023.
 
Women's Basketball will travel to Saint Vincent on Wednesday to try and extend their winning streak to four games, with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 p.m.