NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Chatham Women's Basketball (13-5, 6-4 PAC) used a strong fourth quarter en route to a 60-51 victory on Saturday afternoon at Westminster (7-12, 4-6).
 
Junior Hannah Stephanites led all scorers with a career-high 16 points while knocking down a career-high 4 of her 6 three-point attempts. Senior Madison Nereu recorded her 11th double-double of the campaign, contributing 12 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high 7 assists for the Cougars. Seniors Alyssa Laukus and Maria Barela both netted 9 points for Chatham. Senior Hannah Chenault and graduate student Jordyn Jensen both had 5 points and 6 boards, with Chenault adding a game-high 3 steals.
 
Barela's three-point basket in the first quarter put the Cougars up 8-5 five minutes into the contest. A Chenault jumper and three Jensen free-throws would give Chatham a 13-10 lead by the end of the frame. The Titans made the score 13-12 before three Stephanites triples helped the Cougars take a 10-point lead after an 11-2 scoring run. Nereu tacked on a layup just before the halftime buzzer to give Chatham a 30-21 advantage at the break.
 
Westminster quickly erased their deficit coming out of the locker room, knotting the score at 34 just over four minutes into the half. Laukus responded with a quick 5-0 run, and would add another free throw in the frame but the Cougars held a lead of just a single point heading into the final quarter. Nereu proceeded to score two quick layups, and Chatham extended the run to 13-2 in the first five-plus minutes of the frame to grab control of the contest with a 53-41 lead. A couple more layups from Nereu, who netted 9 points in the fourth, helped the Cougars hold on for a 9-point win.
 
Chatham shot 36.4 percent (20-55) from the field while holding the Titans to 30.5 percent (18-59), the lowest by a Cougars' opponent so far in PAC play. Chatham came away with 10 steals in the contest to the Titans' one.
 
Women's Basketball matches up with Bethany next, a 5 p.m. tip on Wednesday at the Athletic & Fitness Center.