Box Score
CINCINNATI (Nov. 3) – The Vulcans held a one-point halftime lead on Saturday afternoon before suffering a 69-49 loss at Cincinnati in exhibition play at the newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena.
The California University of Pennsylvania women's basketball team was playing its first exhibition since it traveled to face Penn State prior to the 2015-16 campaign. The Bearcats were slotted fifth in the preseason American Athletic Conference (AAC) poll after winning 19 games last year, the most for the program in 15 years, and advancing to the semifinals of the AAC Championship.
Redshirt senior
Seairra Barrett (Center Twp., Pa./Central Valley) led the team with 14 points on 7-of-16 shooting and also added four rebounds and two steals. Prior to missing last season due to injury, Barrett received Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-America Honorable Mention as a junior after averaging 18.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game.
Sophomore
Bianca Jasper (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) finished with 11 points, two rebounds and two assists in the contest. Senior
Jiahna Flood-Francis (Pittsburgh, Pa./West Mifflin) added eight points and five assists, while junior
Gina Vallecorsa (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bishop Canevin) posted seven points and four rebounds on Saturday.
Cal U opened the exhibition on a 13-1 run following a three-pointer by Vallecorsa with 4:06 left to play in the first quarter. The Bearcats closed the quarter with 10-unanswered points to the cut the deficit to 13-11. The Vulcans snapped their scoreless drought with a jumper by junior
DJ Hahn (Warren, Pa./Warren) at the 9:22-mark of the second quarter. Cincinnati then countered with an 8-2 run to claim its first lead of the game at 19-17 with 5:16 left before halftime. The Vulcans then scored seven-straight points to take a 24-19 lead on a layup by Jasper at the 3:06-mark in the quarter. The Bearcats managed to reclaim the lead at 27-26 late the quarter before Barrett made a layup to give Cal U a 28-27 lead at the break.
Midway through the third quarter, the Bearcats seized control of the contest with a 13-6 run to take a 44-36 lead with 1:35 left in the quarter. Cal U made the last basket of the third quarter and the initial bucket of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 44-40 with 9:53 remaining. Cincinnati then scored nine-unanswered points to stretch the lead to 53-40 following a three-point play at the 7:20-mark. The Bearcats later mounted an 11-3 run to stretch the lead to 12 points, 69-47, with 1:00 minute left to play.
Cincinnati junior Angel Rizor led all players with 17 points after shooting seven-of-nine from the floor and added seven rebounds and four assists in the victory. Sophomore Ilmar'l Thomas registered a double-double in the exhibition with 12 points and 10 rebounds after being the 2018 AAC Freshman of the Year.
Cal U finished the game shooting 31.8 percent (21-of-66) from the floor and were limited to just five free-throw attempts. Meanwhile, the Bearcats shot at a 53.7 clip (29-of-54) from the field and tallied 21 attempts from the charity stripe. Cincinnati also finished with a 42-27 rebounding advantage and scored 44 points from inside the paint.
The Vulcans open the year by hosting the MEC/PSAC Conference Challenge next weekend at the Convocation Center on Nov. 10-11.
