Box Score
Kayk Wilson hit a pair of free-throws with one second left to lift Florida Tech to an 83-81 victory over the Lady Cats in Saturday's Second Round of the Nova Southeastern University Thanksgiving Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.Â
Leah Hansen scored 17 points to lead Pitt-Johnstown, now 1-5 on the season.
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Pitt-Johnstown fell behind, 9-4, early but the Lady Cats responded with a 13-4 run over a span of five minutes to take a lead they would hold the rest of the first half.
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Jasmine Harper scored in the paint to knot it at 11, before a
Kayla DeCriscio 3-pointer capped the run and put Pitt-Johnstown in front 17-13.
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Inaya Stephenson's free-throw at 5:04 gave the Lady cats their largest lead of the half at 29-21, but Florida Tech battled back to cut it to 31-29 on Ida Gustafsson's free-throw a minute later.
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However, Pitt-Johnstown extended it 41-35 at the break when Hansen knocked down a 3-pointer of her own at the buzzer.
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Six straight points to start the second half by Florida Tech tied it at 41, before the Lady Cats answered with an 11-5 spurt to rebuild its lead to 52-46 on
Nicole Carman's 3-pointer at 13:32.
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The Panthers clawed back to tie it on three occasions, before
Nicole Carman hit a 3-pointer, followed by two free-throws on Pitt-Johnstown's next trip down the floor to extended the lead back to seven at 71-64.
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Again, Florida Tech came back. The Panthers regained the lead 72-71 with three minutes left to play. The lead see-sawed back-and-forth the rest of the way until Wilson knocked down the two free-throws that gave Florida Tech the win.
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Pitt-Johnstown, which was out-rebounded 41-32, shot 44.7% (21-47) from the field, 9-21 from 3-point range, and 30-39 from the charity stripe. Florida Tech finished the day shooting 43.8% (28-64) from the floor and 0-8 from behind the 3-point line. The Panthers also connected on 27-35 from the free-throw line.
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Acevedo led all scorers and four Panthers who scored in double figures with 18 points. Tiesha Flagler scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds, while Morgan Steinart and Wilson each tallied 16 points for Florida Tech, which improved to 6-3.
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The Lady Cats travel to Clarion on Wednesday for a PSAC game, before returning home to close out the first semester with three straight conference doubleheaders with the Mountain Cats beginning with Slippery Rock on December 7 at 1 p.m.
