Point Park women win seventh straight, 77-71, at IU Southeast

PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University women's basketball made it a 2-0 road weekend with Saturday's 77-71 victory at Indiana University Southeast. The Pioneers improved to 11-3 overall and 4-1 in the River States Conference with their seventh win in a row. 

Gabriella Legister had a huge game of 16 points and 20 rebounds, and Gillian Piccolino put up 18 points and nine rebounds. The Pioneers had four players in double figures with Alexis Giles scoring 12 points and making four 3-pointers to match Piccolino and Fatim Sarr Ndow notching 12 points on 6 for 7 from the field. 

Rebounds were a huge factor with Point Park leading on the glass, 50-33. Point Park had 21 offensive rebounds with Legister pulling in 11 to lead the way. IU Southeast had 22 defensive boards meaning the Pioneers got half of their misses. 

Legister had some key plays down the stretch to protect a 70-68 lead in the last four minutes. She got to the foul line twice and also scored an inside basket off a nice assist from Piccolino to keep the Pioneers ahead, 75-70.

After a few defensive stops, Piccolino iced the game at the foul line with a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left to make the score 77-71. 

It was a game of runs with Point Park building on its 18-14 lead at the end of the first quarter with a 27-18 lead midway through the second. IU Southeast responded with an 11-0 run to go up 29-27. But Point Park had 11-0 run of its own to end the half and was ahead, 38-29, at the break. Piccolino nailed a pair of 3-pointers during that spurt. 

Point Park picked up right where it had left off with an 8-2 run to begin the second half. Piccolino hit from the outside, and Emma Pavelek drove for two to get that going. 

Point Park eventually had its biggest lead of 15 points later in the third at 48-33. IU Southeast made another run to cut the lead in half, 51-43. The Grenadiers also got a swing of momentum their way with a technical foul at that point. From there, it was a couple possession game the rest of the way. 

Leading 60-54 after three, the Pioneers had a great start to the fourth with Giles connecting on a 3-pointer, Ari Bleda and Piccolino scoring inside and Piccolino piling on another 3-pointer. That made the score 70-61 with 7:00 left. 

IU Southeast did not go away with Leah Miller and Karly Sweeney leading a comeback attempt on their way to 20 and 15 points, respectively. But Point Park had the key plays on both ends and made their free throws to come away with the road victory. 

Bleda added an all-round game for Point Park with eight points, seven rebounds and six assists. Pavelek contributed five points and four assists. Isabella Pelaia had a pair of 3-pointers to chip in off the bench. Sarr Ndow's 12 points and five rebounds came in just 12 minutes off the bench.

Point Park will have its next two games on the road as well. The Pioneers go to Oakland City (Ind.) on Jan. 11 and Brescia (Ky.) on Jan. 13 for another pair of RSC East-West Division crossover games.