Point Park women charge past St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) with big fourth quarter

PITTSBURGH -- Point Park University women's basketball used a 21-5 run in the fourth quarter to rally past St. Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) College for a 78-71 victory on Thursday night at CCAC-Allegheny. The River States Conference victory moved the Pioneers to 14-4 overall and 7-2 RSC. 

Point Park has won 10 of its past 11 games after defeating SMWC (11-8, 6-3 RSC). It was a matchup of second-place teams in their respective divisions with Point Park second in the RSC East and the Pomeroys second in the RSC West. 

Gillian Piccolino poured in 19 of her game-high 23 points in the second half to power Point Park to the win. Gabriella Legister finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds, and she scored 10 points in that big fourth quarter. Ari Bleda added 14 points for three starters in double digits, and Fatim Sarr Ndow chipped in 12 points and eight boards off the bench.

Point Park mananged a 20-17 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to Bleda making a late 3-pointer. That momentum carried over into the second with Point Park working a 25-17 lead with Aichata Ballo's 3-pointer and Sarr Ndow's hook shot in the lane. 

But SMWC turned the tables for a 39-34 lead at the break. It was a 22-9 run to end the half the gave the Pomeroys the five-point lead at the break. Point Park hit a rut in that second quarter shooting just 29 percent in the period. 

Point Park was still in trouble in the third quarter as SMWC built its biggest lead of 53-41 at the 3:45 mark. A couple of 3-pointers by Piccolino started to get some momentum for the Pioneers, although they still found themselves trailing 56-51 entering the fourth. 

The Pomeroys got the first two buckets of the fourth quarter for a 60-51 lead with just under 8:00 to go. Then the Pioneers started their charge with the 21-5 run coming next. The run started with a couple of defensive stops, with those followed up by Sarr Ndow with a layup and Legister with a somewhat unlikey 3-pointer from the 6-2 post player. 

Sarr Ndow and Legister continued to score to keep the run going. Emma Pavelek then drove in to tie the game at 64-64 with 4:10 left. Piccolino connected from long range and then found Sarr Ndow down low as things kept going. Bleda punctuated the run with a 3-pointer to put in the dagger at 72-65 with 1:06 remaining. 

During the decisive run, SMWC was 1 for 11 from the field with two turnovers. Conversely, Point Park shot 57 percent the fourth quater (8 for 14) with a 3-for-5 performance from the outside and 8 for 10 at the foul line. 

Brooklyn Jones scored a team-high 18 points for the Pomeroys. The first-half lead for SMWC was mainly built on Jones putting up 12 points before the half and Aubrey Burgess coming off the bench for all 11 of her points the first half. Destiny Thomas finished with 16 points with 14 in the second half. 

Point Park extended its home win streak to 13 straight games. It was a streak that started last year on Senior Day, continued in a home playoff win over SMWC and includes an 11-0 home record this season. The Pioneers put that on the floor Saturday for a date versus IU Kokomo at 1:00 p.m.