Point Park women’s basketball picked up its second straight victory on Saturday afternoon, defeating Salem 71-42 in a non-conference matchup.

Senior guard Alexis Giles led the way for the Pioneers in scoring, putting up 16 points on the afternoon and shooting 50% from the field.

Point Park only led by two points at the end of the first quarter, going back and forth with Salem but never trailing.

The Pioneers added four more points on their end at the start of the second quarter before Salem went on an 8-0 run to take a slim 22-20 lead.

Point Park’s 13 points in the second quarter were enough to give the team the advantage at halftime, but poor defensive efforts caused the lead to sit at 29-28.

“We’re just not doing a good job getting to our spots, boxing out,” coach Dave Scarborough said at halftime. “I like some of the shots [that Point Park is] taking, contested, but we gotta finish those plays with the box out. And then on the other end, when we don’t score, we don’t like to defend. So we just gotta get a little more movement on offense against the zone.”

More movement in the offense is exactly what coach Scarborough got from his team in the third quarter. The Pioneers came out and went on two separate 11-0 runs during the third quarter.

Point Park also made major adjustments to its defensive game, allowing Salem to score only four points in the entire third quarter.

“I think we just came back from the first half [and] played really hard defense,” junior guard Lucia Hervia said following the game. “I think our matchups were really good, and I think we just came out of the locker room wanting it more than them.”

Point Park went 42.2% from the field and 77.8% from the free throw line, only missing four out of its 18 attempts.

Hervia was the second-highest scoring player for the Pioneers, posting a season-high 13 points and going 55.6% from the field.

Talking about her season-best performance, Hervia said, “I think it was just making layups, shots. I don’t know, everything was working so good.”

Salem’s loss on Saturday was its 12th-straight and 15th overall. The Tigers have yet to defeat any teams in the Mountain East Conference this season.

The Pioneers will look to make it three-straight wins as they travel to Elkins, W. Va., on Wednesday to face Davis & Elkins for their second meeting of the season. Point Park previously defeated Davis & Elkins at home 77-52 on December 13.

Tip-off is set for this evening at 5:30 p.m. Students can stream the game live on mountaineast.tv.