Conference play usually brings out the best in basketball teams, and Wednesday night at the KOA Center proved to be no exception.
The Hilbert Hawks (3-3) took down the UPB women, 68-64, in a thrilling tilt that saw plenty of lead changes and back-and-forth offense. In the end, the Hawks hung on with some clutch free-throw shooting and stout defense against the Panthers’ (1-3) top scorers.
The game got off to a less than eventful start, with neither team hitting a bucket until the seven-minute mark in the first quarter. It proved to be a tight game defensively in the first half, with both teams struggling to shoot. UPB went on a 9-0 run, however, to end the half with a 29-22 lead.
The second half saw an uptick in the intensity as well as the buckets. Senior Ali Rinfrette once again led the way for the Panthers with 18 points, five assists and three steals. With another standout performance, Rinfrette now sits 18 points shy of tying the all-time Pitt-Bradford scoring record of 1,610 points held by Diane Eggleton.
What ultimately turned the game down the stretch was discipline. Hilbert got to the line 35 times in the game, while the Panthers could only muster 13 trips to the charity stripe. UPB coach Sharay Hall wasn’t all too pleased with the officiating, but admitted that most of the blame for that stat falls on her team.
“In the beginning, we shot too many threes,” the first-year head coach said. “We shot three after three after three, we didn’t try to get to the lane. In the second half, we just couldn’t get to the line. But we did have some hard drives, we got a couple of our shots stuffed because we were smaller. But the rest of that is out of our control.”
The teams traded three-pointers with less than three minutes left, but Hilbert point guard Emily Gawlak went on a run of her own, with baskets on three straight possessions to give the Hawks a 61-58 lead. Despite a three with less than five seconds to go from Rinfrette to create some more drama, Hilbert never trailed after Gawlak’s run. She led Hilbert with 23 points (8-of-16), and played the entire game.
“Today I felt like we played with bursts of energy, and bursts of effort,” Hall said. “Down the stretch they were the more disciplined team. As far as our effort is concerned, we definitely worked our butts off as much as we could.”
The Panthers will have several practice days before they host AMCC foe La Roche in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday. Hall didn’t hesitate when asked about what she’d like to see from her squad next time on the floor.
“Hard work and picking up a better tempo,” she said. “We want to play a high-tempo, intense defense that creates steals and transition points to get some wins. On offense, our game is seeing the floor. We can swing the ball fast, penetrate and kick and that’s the stuff that generates the offense for us.”
Hawks’ offense too much for UPB in 90-73 loss
The Pitt-Bradford men dropped their conference debut on Wednesday, losing to Hilbert 90-73.
Defense continues to be a problem for the Panthers (1-3), who are now giving up an average of 97.5 points per game to start their season. UPB had been able to score to keep up with opponents thus far this season, but only shot 31 percent from the floor, and Hilbert (3-2) limited them to 30 points in the first half.
The Panthers played tough down the stretch, outscoring the Hawks 43-39 in the second half, but first-year head coach Sean Brown Sr. didn’t quite care for the moral victories.
“Our defense is pretty bad, and our rebounding is pretty bad,” Brown said. “Quite frankly, we are pretty bad right now. We’re not doing anything really well. But we’ll get better and we’ll keep working.”
To Brown’s point, his team was outrebounded by Hilbert 54-35 for the game. In addition, the Hawks had 20 offensive boards which created plenty of second-chance opportunities.
Hilbert was paced by the AMCC Preseason Player of the Year, Jalen Smith, who put up 23 points (9-of-18) in only 27 minutes of play. Leading the Panthers was Desmond Brogsdale with 16 points (5-of-15).
Despite the defensive struggles to start the season, Brown—who spent the previous two years as UPB women’s head coach—is going to keep it simple with his team going forward.
“We’re going to keep tightening up our defensive schemes and game plans,” he said. “Secondly, we’re going to really work on boxing out and rebounding.”
