Box Score 
Leah Hansen matched her career-high with 20 points, but Mercyhurst used a 21-8 run over the final five minutes to break open a two-point game and defeat the Lady Cats 87-72, Saturday afternoon in Erie. Pitt-Johnstown slipped to 9-7 overall and 6-6 in the PSAC Western Division.
Pitt-Johnstown scored the first five points and jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead on
Kelsey Sleighter's 3-pointer, but Mercyhurst answered with a 19-6 run of its own over the next 10 minutes to take a five point advantage.
Back-to-back baskets from Jessica Bell tied it at 16, before two of Natalie Piaggesi's 16 first half points gave the Lakers their first lead of the afternoon. Mercyhurst then closed out the run with another basket from Bell that made it 21-16 with 7:25 remaining in the half.
The Lady Cats came right back and scored the next eight, including five points from
Nicole Carman and lay-up from Sleighter to retake the lead 24-21, but Mercyhurst doubled-up Pitt-Johnstown 10-5 over the final 4:13 to go up 31-29 at the half on Adreinne Kloecker's basket.
The Lakers kept the momentum to start the second half and extended the run to 17-7 on Kloecker's jumper that gave Mercyhurst a 38-31 advantage at 17:47.
Sleighter's 3-pointer narrowed the gap to four, before Alex Artise and Kloecker followed with 3-pointers for Mercyhurst got the lead into double figures at 62-52 with 9:36 to play.
The Lady Cats continued to battle and got to within two at 66-64 on
Olivia Rizzo's 3-pointer with 5:20 left. However, The Lakers outscored Pitt-Johnstown 13-4 over the next four minutes to build the lead to 13 at 81-68 and went on to the 15-point victory.
Hansen's 20 points on 9-10 shooting led the way for Pitt-Johnstown. Carman had 18 points and seven rebounds, and Sleighter finished with 11 points. The Lady cats also got eight points and six rebounds from
Jasmine Harper and eight points from Rizzo.
Carman is currently 26
th on the Lady Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,117 points and 15
th on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Rebounding List with 618. Harper is tied for 26
th with Denise Gallo (1992-96) on the all-time rebounding list with 498 rebounds, while Sleighter is 16 points shy of becoming Pitt-Johnstown's 35
th 1,000-point scorer.
The Lady Cats shot 54.5% (30-55) from the field, 5-18 from 3-point range, and 7-14 from the free-throw line. Mercyhurst ended the day shooting 56.4% (31-55) from the floor, 5-13 from behind the 3-point line, and 20-28 from the charity stripe.
Piaggesi had a game-high 34 points and seven rebounds, and Kloecker chipped-in 13 points to pace five Lakers who scored in double figures. Mercyhurst made it four straight wins and improved to 7-11 overall and 5-8 in the PSAC-West.
The Lady Cats travel to a PSAC game at Indiana (PA) next Wednesday, before hosting a conference doubleheader with the Mountain Cats against Edinboro on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center.
