Pioneers take care of Cleary (Mich.), bring 9-3 record into Christmas
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cleary (Mich.) (1-11, 1-5 WHAC) | 10 | 13 | 8 | 23 | 54 |
|
Point Park (9-3, 2-1 RSC) | 19 | 15 | 21 | 15 | 70 |
PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University women's basketball pushed its win streak to a season-best five straight games with Tuesday's 70-54 victory over Cleary (Mich.) University at CCAC-Allegheny. The Pioneers won the NAIA, non-conference matchup to take a 9-3 record into Christmas.
Gillian Piccolino continued her scoring pace for Point Park leading the Pioneers with 23 points and a 5-for-10 performance from 3-point range. She had already surpassed her season average of 17.1 ppg coming in with 19 points in the first half. That had Point Park ahead, 34-23, at the break with Piccolino scorching the nets at 5 for 7 from long range.
Gabriella Legister had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Pioneers. Alexis Giles with 11 points -- all of which came in the second half -- along with Legister putting in 14 points after halftime, powered the Pioneers the final two quarters.
Giles made three 3-pointers in the second half, one of which capped a 7-0 run to start the third quarter. That put the Pioneers up, 41-23. Legister followed with an inside bucket off an assist from Aichata Ballo to push the lead to 20 points.
Point Park had a 21-8 run overall in the third quarter. That got the lead as high as 27 points, 55-28, late in the third. The Pioneers kept the big lead to maintain a 63-36 advantage at the under-5:00 media timeout of the fourth quarter.
Point Park forced 20 turnovers and had a 28-9 advantage in points off turnovers. Emma Pavelek led that charge with seven steals to go along with her seven points and four assists.
The Pioneers led on the boards, 48-36, with Ari Bleda grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds. She also had five assists and four points. The Pioneers totaled 19 assists with Janiah Tillman making four and grabbing five rebounds.
Cleary (1-10) had Mileisha Rodriguez with 20 points and 15 rebounds and Taedom Stein add 10 points and four assists.
The Pioneers are off until a road trip to play at Midway (Ky.) and IU Southeast on Jan. 4 and 6. All remaning games for the Pioneers are within River States Conference play. Point Park currently stands 2-1 RSC and second place in the RSC East Division.
