Women's Basketball 6/18/2013 11:12:00 AM

Lady Cats Fall Short at Home to Shepherd, 75-68

01/18/2010

Sheena Aden (Sandy Lake, Pa.) matched her career-high with 27 points, but Shepherd (WV) University hit four straight free-throws with under a minute to play following a Pitt-Johnstown personal foul and a technical foul to open-up a five-point lead and hand the Lady Cats a 75-68 loss, Monday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown fell to 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the WVIAC.
The Lady Cats trailed by one with 41 seconds left, but a personal foul, followed by a technical on Pitt-Johnstown put the Lady Rams on the free-throw line for four shots. Shepherd's Carrie Saunders and Kattie Biggs hit two free-throws apiece to push the lead to 73-68 and seal the victory.
Shepherd scored the first five points and held a 9-6 lead 6:25 into the game. The Lady Cats battled back. Monae Baker's (Bushkill, Pa.) three-pointer from the top of the key knotted the score at nine at 13:26, before Pitt-Johnstown took its first lead on Sheena Aden's (Sandy Lake, Pa.) steal and lay-up at the 12-minute mark.
The Lady Cats increased the lead to 15-11 on a pair of Aden free-throws, but Rams, who dominated on the offensive glass and held a 14-0 advantage in second-chance points in the first half, answered with a 25-9 run over the next 8:27 to build a 36-24 lead with 1:54 left.
Pitt-Johnstown outscored Shepherd 9-2 the rest of the way, including a three-pointer from Kelly Goode (Pleasant Plain, OH) with time running out, to cut the deficit to 38-33 at the intermission.
The Lady Cats extended the run to 19-6 to start the second half and regained the lead 43-42 on two more Aden free-throws at 16:32. Biggs three-pointer the next trip down the floor put Shepherd back up 45-43.
The teams battled back and forth and exchanged the lead eight times over the next eight minutes, until another Biggs three-pointer gave the Rams at 63-60 lead with 8:25 to play.
Shepherd never gave up the lead again. The Rams extended it to 69-64 with just over four minutes left on Camille Wilmer's basket, before the Lady Cats pulled to within one at 69-68 on Aden's lay-up at 2:19.
The Lady Cats shot 42.6% from the field and 18-22 from the free-throw line, while the Rams ended the night shooting 44.3% and 10-15 from the charity stripe. However, Shepherd dominated on the boards, out-rebounding Pitt-Johnstown 46-29, including holding a 21-8 advantage on the offensive end.
Aden scored a game-high 27 points on 9-13 shooting from the floor and 9-10 from the free-throw line to lead three-Lady Cats who scored in double-figures. Aden also grabbed a team-high six rebounds and dished out four assists. Andrea Dalton (Washington, Pa.) finished with 14 points and five rebounds, and Baker added 13 points off the bench. Sara Trimarco (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) collected six points, four rebounds and six assists.
Biggs paced Shepherd with 21 points. Wilmer had 19 points and seven rebounds, while Saunders chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds for the Rams, who won their fourth straight game and improved to 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the WVIAC.
The Lady Cats travel to Ohio Valley (WV) University for a WVIAC game on Thursday, before hosting a confeence game against West Virginia Wesleyan College on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in the Sports Center.

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