DAYTON BEACH, Fla. – The Prairie View A&M women's basketball team held off a comeback by the Bethune-Cookman with a 70-60 win in the meeting at Moore Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
The Panthers were able to contain Bethune's leading scorer.  The team's leading scorer on the season, Morgan Beacham, was held to three points and two rebounds.
 
Prairie View maintained control of the game, never allowing the Wildcats to take the lead.  The game saw only two ties the last at 15-15 in the second quarter with 6:11 remaining on the clock.  The Panthers to their slight advantage into the locker room up 23-20. 
 
PVAMU opened the third quarter advancing their lead to nine in the first minute of play.  Bethune chipped into that lead, but the Panthers jumped back out to take a 36-25 lead with 4:17 left in the third quarter.  With 12 seconds left Bethune was down by three, but a Brittany Garner bucket pushed the Panthers lead back to five to close the third quarter out 46-41.
 
One more scare in the first few minutes of the first quarter with 7:32 left on the clock was as close as the Wildcats would get (52-47), before the Panthers never looked back, as PVAMU took a 13 point lead with 2:33 left in the game.  Four final free throws by Diana Rosenthal shut the door on Cookman to secure the victory.
 
Rosenthal flirted with her first double-double, coming up three rebounds shy, but she was able to record a game high of 22 points and seven rebounds.  Three other players hit double figures in the win.  Both Garner and Kennedy Paul had 13-points apiece.  Garner also grabbed six rebounds, with two assists, a team high three blocks and one steal.
 
Paul added four rebounds, three assist, one block and two steals to the win, while Gerlyn Smith, who had been out the last couple of games returned to her home state scoring 11 points, adding three rebounds, and one assists.
 
The women's basketball team will return to action on Monday as they head to Tallahassee, Fla. To take on the Florida A&M Rattlers.  Tipoff is slated for 4:30 p.m. CT.
 
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