LATROBE, Pa. – Chatham Women's Basketball (9-4, 2-3 PAC) came out on the wrong side of a defensive slugfest on Wednesday night at Saint Vincent (10-4, 5-0), dropping the contest 56-51.
 
Makenna Maier was the Bearcats' leading scorer with 9 points on 4-7 shooting. Brooke Evans, Camdon Bashor, Reese Gadsby, and Emerson Peffer all contributed 8 points for Saint Vincent, with Evans collecting a game-high 5 steals and 6 assists while Bashor pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds and dished out 5 assists.
 
Senior Madison Nereu recorded her 5th double-double in 6 games, netting a game-high 23 points on 9-15 from the field and grabbing 11 rebounds for the Cougars. Senior Alyssa Laukus scored 16 points, shooting 6-9 with 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Senior Julia Calvin had 8 points off the bench for Chatham, hitting 2 of its 3 three-point baskets in the game.
 
The Cougars led 4-3 early in the first quarter, but the Bearcats came back to take a 9-5 advantage. A Laukus jump shot knotted the score at 9, and after 5 consecutive Saint Vincent points, Nereu's layup made it a 14-11 game at the end of the opening quarter. The second quarter started slowly for Chatham, with Nereu making the only Cougar basket in the first five minutes. Nereu would score 10 total points in the first half, and after trailing 27-17, Chatham would end the half on a 7-0 run to cut its deficit to 3.
 
The Cougars put together a 10-2 run in the third quarter, and Calvin's three-point basket gave them the lead at 38-35. The Bearcats would bounce back with a 9-0 run to go up by 4 early in the fourth quarter. With six minutes remaining, Laukus made a layup to get Chatham back to within 4, but the Cougs would go cold from the field allowing Saint Vincent to extend its advantage to 52-44. Back-to-back three-pointers from Calvin and Nereu gave Chatham a chance, as the score was 52-50 in favor of the Bearcats with 24 seconds on the clock, but Saint Vincent would knock down its shots from the charity stripe to seal the 5-point victory.
 
The Cougars shot 31.7 percent from the field (19-60), their second-lowest percentage of the season, and Chatham's 13.6 percent three-point shooting (3-22) was its lowest percentage of the season. The Bearcats only made two more field goals than the Cougars (21-53), but their 83.3 free throw percentage (10-12) was the highest by a Chatham opponent in 2025-26.
 
Women's Basketball will look to bounce back at the Athletic and Fitness Center, where they are 6-0 this season, on Saturday at noon against Grove City.