Women's Basketball 6/18/2013 10:42:00 AM

Lady Cats Battle Back to Defeat Shepherd for Sixth Staright Win

02/17/2011

Andrea Dalton (Washington, Pa.) and Sheena Aden (Sandy Lake, Pa.) each scored 19 points to help the Lady Cats claw their way back from a 13-point first half deficit to defeat Shepherd (WV) University, 68-64, Thursday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown, winners of six straight and 11 of its last 12, improved to 15-8 overall and 13-6 in the WVIAC.
In a tale of two halves, It was all Shepherd early. The Rams ran out to a 13-point lead eight minutes into the game. Two Jerica Hewitt free-throws at 14:15 put Shepherd up 11-4, before a Katie Briggs' three-pointer with 12:08 left pushed the lead to 19-6.
However, it was the Lady Cats who took control from that point on. Pitt-Johnstown outscored the Rams 25-12 over the final 12 minutes to go into the halftime break tied at 31.
Aden's short jumper at 4:20 cut the deficit to five, and Kayla Loughner's (Brinklow, MD) three-pointer made it a two-point game with 2:52 left.
Shepherd answered with a basket to go up four, but two free-throws and a lay-up with under a minute remaining by Dalton tied the score going into the half.
The Lady Cats kept the momentum going to start the have with a basket from Dalton and a three-pointer from Maria Montini (Irwin, Pa.) to up 36-31.
A Jimyse Brown basket got the Rams to within one at 40-39, but back-to-back three-pointers by Dalton and Montini extended the margin to 49-41 at 15:40.
Another Dalton basket extended the lead to nine, but Shepherd scored seven straight, capped by Briggs' bucket in the paint at 10:56, to make it 53-51.
The Lady Cats answered on Aden's lay-up to get the lead back to seven at the 8:26 mark, but Shepherd battled all the way back to regain the lead 61-60 on Shelby Fayak's basket at 4:24.
Aden followed with two free-throws to give the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown and the Lady Cats never trailed again. Shepherd trailed 66-64 with 5.9 seconds left, but Sara Trimarco (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) sank two free-throws to seal the win.
Dalton had 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Aden added 19 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Montini chipped in 11 points, including 3-4 from behind the three-point line, and Loughner had seven points. Grace Hyland (Pittsburgh, Pa.) collected six points off the bench, and Kelly Goode (Cincinnati, OH) pulled down seven rebounds.
Aden stands in fifth-place on the Lady Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,511 points, and 19th on the all-time rebounding list with 550 rebounds, while Dalton is 15th on the scoring list with 1,304 points and 17th on the rebounding list with 566.
The Lady Cats ended the night shooting 46.3% (25-54) from the field, 8-21 from thee-point range, and 10-13 from the free-throw line. Shepherd, which was out-rebounded 38-34, shot just 38.5% from the floor and 6-17 from behind the three-point line. The Rams were also 8-9 from the charity stripe.
Hewett and Fayak paced the Rams with 14 and 13 points, respectively. With the loss, Shepherd dropped to 13-11 overall and 11-9 in the WVIAC.
The Lady Cats will host a doubleheader for Senior Day with the Mountain Cats against West Virginia State University on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. Pitt-Johnstown will also host a doubleheader against West Virginia Wesleyan College on Wednesday. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 6 p.m., followed by the men's Senior Night game at 8 p.m.

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