Box Score
Jasmine Harper posted a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds to help the Lady Cats snap a nine-game losing streak and keep their PSAC Tournament hopes alive with a 77-70 victory over Mercyhurst, Wednesday night in the Sports Center.  Pitt-Johnstown improved to 10-14 overall and 7-13 in the PSAC.
 
Mercyhurst opened the game with a pair of buckets, but Pitt-Johnstown answered in a big way.  The Lady Cats outscored the Lakers 26-9 over the next 11 minutes to build a 13 points lead of their own.
 
Leah Hansen knocked down a 3-pointer to put Pitt-Johnstown in front 19-11 at the 10:30 mark, before a Kelsey Sleighter 3-pointer two minutes later pushed the lead into double figures at 22-11.
 
Mercyhurst got two free-throws from Jessica Bell, before Jamie Tabon connected on three from the charity stripe for the Lady Cats to end the run and make it 26-13 at the eight minute mark.
 
The Lakers came right back with a quick 10-2 run, capped by Angela Heintz's lay-up, to narrow the deficit to five, but Nicole Carman answered with a 3-pointer that extended the Lady Cat lead back into double digits.
 
Mercyhurst got it back down to five at with 1:46 left on Heintz's 3-pointer, before a Kayla DeCrisco jumper in the lane as time expired gave Pitt-Johnstown a 41-34 halftime lead.
 
Pitt-Johnstown bumped it back up to nine early in the second half on Hansen's driving lay-up, but the Lakers cut it to three on Natalie Piaggesi's lay-up and free-throw, then to one at 48-47 when Alex Atrise hit a three-pointer at 13:42.
 
However, the Lady Cats began to dominate.  Pitt-Johnstown nearly matched its 26-9 first half run with a 25-9 run to build its lead to 17.  Back-to-back lay-ups from Harper and Carman got the lead back to 10, and a bucket in the paint from Sleighter, followed by DeCriscio's three-pointer made it 73-56 with six minutes left.
 
Mercyhust wasn't done yet.  The Lakers stormed back into the game with a 14-1 run, closed out by two Heintz free-throws, to make it 74-70 with 24 seconds to play.
 
That was as close as Pitt-Johnstown would let it get.  Carman and Sleighter combined to hit 3-of-4 free-throws in the final 19 seconds to seal the win and end the long losing streak.
 
Along with Harper's 17 points and 14 rebounds, Carman had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead four Lady Cats who scored in double figures.  Hansen finished with 13 points and six assists, and DeCriscio chipped-in 11 points off the bench.  Pitt-Johnstown also got nine points from Sleighter.
 
Carman is currently 18^th on the Lady Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,225 points and 13^th on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Rebounding List with 670.  Harper is 20^th on the all-time rebounding list with 579 rebounds, and 61 points shy of becoming the Lady Cats' 36^th 1,000-point scorer.  In addition, Sleighter is 27^th on the scoring list with 1,103 points.  Sleighter holds the record for career 3-pointers with 198 and her 71 3-pointers this season are five shy of Shelley Helsel's record of 76 set in 1995-96.
 
Pitt-Johnstown ended the night shooting 46.6% (27-58) from the field, 8-18 from behind the 3-point line, and 15-20 from the free-throw line.  The Lady Cats held Mercyhurst to just 38.0% (27-71) shooting, including 5-17 from behind the three-point line.  The Lakers were also 11-17 from the charity stripe.
 
Heintz scored 17 points eight rebounds, and Bell finished with 12 points and six rebounds to lead the Lakers, who dropped to 9-18 overall and 6-15 in the PSAC.
 
The Lady Cats will celebrate Senior Day with a PSAC doubleheader with the Mountain Cats against Indiana University (PA) on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center, before closing out the 2014-15 regular season with a conference game at Edinboro next Wednesday.