Lady Cats Roll, 88-60, Over Ohio Valley in Home Opener

12/04/2007

After four straight road games to start the season, first-year Head Coach Sasha Palmer and her Lady Cat basketball team came home to host Ohio Valley (WV) University on Tuesday and rolled to an 88-60 win in the Sports Center. Krista Britcher (Johnstown, Pa.) poured in a career-high 25 points, and Chrissy Forster (Lewisberry, Pa.) added career highs of 11 points and 10 rebounds to help Pitt Johnstown improve to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the WVIAC.
The Lady Cats, who led wire to wire, opened up a 14 point lead with 6:03 to play in the first half, before taking a 44-37 halftime lead. Pitt Johnstown came out in the second half and dominated the Fighting Scots. The Lady Cats broke open a 57-49 lead with 12:04 to play by going on a 23-5 run over the next seven minutes to increase the lead to 26 points. Pitt Johnstown never looked back and cruised to the 28-point victory.
Britcher's 25 points on 11-18 shooting from the field and 3-4 from the free-throw line led five Lady Cats who scored in double figures. Lindsay Cale (Hummelstown, Pa.) and Kristin Irwin (Bellefonte, Pa.) scored 14 points each, while Kaitlin Urban (Johnstown, Pa.) chipped in 12 points off of Coach Palmer's bench. Forster's 11 points rounded out the double-figure scorers, while her game-high 10 rebounds led Pitt Johnstown. Irwin had six rebounds and Britcher, Cale, Urban and Jill Maurer (Johnstown, Pa.) all grabbed five rebounds. Cale also dished out seven assists.
Pitt Johnstown shot an impressive 52.7% (39-74) from the field, while holding Ohio Valley to just 34.9% (22-63) shooting. The Lady Cats connected on seven of their eight free-throws, and out rebounded the Fighting Scots, 42-39. Pitt Johnstown also force 21 turnovers and converted them into 25 points.
Jessy Offenberger's 13 points paced Ohio Valley. Jaynee Davis added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Kendra Benedict tallied nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Fighting Scots, who dropped to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in the WVIAC.
The Lady Cats travel to Slippery Rock University on Friday and to California University (PA) on Sunday to finish the first semester. Pitt Johnstown will then break for finals and the holiday season, before opening the spring semester against Indiana University (PA) on Wednesday, January 2 at 5:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Mountain Cats. The Mountain Cats will take on Shippensburg University at 7:30 p.m.

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