Lady Cats Fall at WVIAC Champion Shepherd, 70-52, to End Regular Season

02/23/2008

Sheena Aden (Sandy Lake, Pa.) scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds, but WVIAC Champion Shepherd (WV) University broke open a one-point halftime lead and went on to deal the Lady Cat basketbll team a 70-52 road loss in Saturday's regular season finale. Pitt Johnstown, 10-17 overall and 9-11 in conference play, will host Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University in Monday's First Round of the 2008 WVIAC Tournament. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Center.
Pitt Johnstown and Wheeling Jesuit finished the regular season tied for eight place in the conference with identical 10-17 overall records and 9-11 league records. The Lady Cats had 71 WVIAC Power Ranking Points, compared to 70 for the Cardinals, enabling Pitt Johnstown to secure the first round home game.
The Lady Cats came to play in the first half. Pitt Johnstown and Shepherd exchanged the lead six times, before the Rams broke a 20-20 tie at the 4:14 mark with the game's seventh lead change. Shepherd went up 28-23 with 2:10 in the half, but the Lady Cats clawed their way back to cut the deficit to 28-27 at halftime. However, the seventh lead change would prove to be the last, as the Rams went on a 12-2 run over the first six minutes of the second half and never looked back in the 18-point victory.
Aden finished 5-11 from the field and 3-4 from the free-throw line. Jill Maurer (Johnstown, Pa.) tallied 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Lindsay Cale (Hummelstown, Pa.) and Chrissy Forster (Lewisberry, Pa.) had seven points apiece. Forster pulled down seven rebounds. Head Coach Sasha Palmer also got six points from Andrea Dalton (Washington, Pa.) and five points and four rebounds from Kristin Irwin (Bellefonte, Pa.) in the loss.
Once again, Pitt Johnstown struggled shooting the ball. The Lady Cats ended the day shooting 35.0% (21-60) from the field, 1-11 from three-point range and 9-16 from the free-throw line. The Rams shot 43.9% (29-66) from the field, including 52.9% in the second half. Shepherd also connected on 11-14 from the charity stripe.
Katie Warehime poured in a game-high 20 points on 7-11 field goals and 6-7 free-throws. Krissy Grosselin had 12 points, and Laura Harkins added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds to help the Rams improve to 20-5 overall and 18-2 in WVIAC.

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