Olivia McCabe had a double-double of 19 points and 15 rebounds, but Winston-Salem State battled from a 15-point third quarter deficit to defeat the Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball team, 66-59, in Sunday's final Round of the Winston-Salem State Conference Crossover.  Pitt-Johnstown is 1-1.
 
Pitt-Johnstown got off to a slow start and Winston-Salem State climbed out to a 7-0 behind five points from Kandace Tate.  After missing their first five shots, Gabrielle Smith got the Cats on the scoreboard, before a free-throw followed by a basket from Laurel O'Barto cut Pitt-Johnstown's deficit to 11-10 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Pitt-Johnstown took control and outscored the Rams 25-12 in the second quarter to build a 12-point halftime advantage.  Two McCabe free-throws to start the quarter sparked a 10-0 Pitt-Johnstown run that put the Cats up 20-14, and a McCabe basket in the paint with 43 seconds left gave Pitt-Johnstown its largest lead of the half at 14.  Winston-Salem State was able to narrow it 35-23 on Tate's bucket as time expired.
 
O'Barto's basket 2:37 into the third quarter increased Pitt-Johnstown's lead to 15, but the Rams went on to outscore the Cats, 20-6, the rest of the way to pull to within one entering the fourth quarter.  Teara Johnson's jumper with 3:49 left in the quarter got Winston-Salem State to within three, and a pair of free-throws from Tate with under a minute remaining made it 46-45.
 
The Rams completed the comeback and regained the lead on Brionna Pate's basket to open the fourth quarter.  Winston-Salem State pushed it out to 63-53 on Briana Arnold's lay-up with 2:18 to play and went on to the 7-point victory.
 
McCabe finished with 19 points, including 9-10 from the free-throw line, and a game-high 15 rebounds to lead Pitt-Johnstown.  O'Barto had 10 points and four rebounds, while Smith had nine points and seven rebounds.  In addition, Alexis Harris tallied six points and six rebounds and Nicole Olkosky pulled down six rebounds.
 
Pitt-Johnstown was held to just 31.0% (18-58) shooting and just 1-18 from 3-point range for the game.  The Cats were also 22-33 from the free-throw line.  Winston-Salem State ended the afternoon shooting 42.6% from the field, 0-4 from behind the 3-point line, and 20-30 from the charity stripe.
 
Tate had a game-high 20 points, while Pate had 19 points and Johnson had 10 points to help the Rams even their record at 1-1 to begin the year.
 
Pitt-Johnstown visits Salem International (WV) University on Wednesday, before making its 2017-18 home debut with PSAC doubleheaders with the men's team against Bloomsburg University on Saturday and East Stroudsburg University on Sunday.  Both doubleheaders will tip-off at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center.  Between games of Saturday's doubleheader, Pitt-Johnstown will have it new Sports Center Floor Dedication Ceremony.