Clarion took advantage of poor Pitt-Johnstown shooting and 23 turnovers to turn a six-point halftime lead into a 60-44 PSAC Western Division victory over the Cats, Saturday afternoon in Clarion.  Olivia McCabe's game-highs of 16 points and 13 rebounds led Pitt-Johnstown, which slipped to 7-4 overall and 4-2 in conference-play.
 
Pitt-Johnstown, which out-rebounded the Golden Eagles 45-34, struggled shooting the ball.  The Cats shot just 30.4% (17-56) from the field, 1-17 from behind the 3-point line, and 9-21 from the free-throw line.  Clarion ended the afternoon shooting 39.3% (22-56) from the floor, 7-19 from 3-point range, and 9-16 from the charity stripe.
 
A 3-pointer by Tracy Wiehe and a basket from Yndiah Bobo helped Clarion open up a 7-2 lead five minutes into the game.  Pitt-Johnstown cut it to two on Gabrielle Smith's layup and an McCabe free-throw, before a pair of Jordan Bekelja free-throws with two minutes left in the opening quarter got the Golden Eagles' lead back out to five.  The Cats then got back to within three at 12-9 on Alexis Harris' 3-pointer to close out the quarter.
 
Clarion got its lead out to eight with a 6-1 run to start the second quarter.  Taylor Moltz connected on a 3-pointer and Bobo's free-throw gave the Golden Knights an 18-10 advantage with 7:43 remaining in the half.  Pitt-Johnstown cut the deficit in half on Tori Moreland's bucket, then to two on a pair of McCabe free-throws at 1:12.  However, a quick 5-1 spurt by Clarion down the stretch, including Bobo's conventional 3-point play with one second left, put the Golden Eagles in front, 27-21 at the break.
 
Clarion held the momentum to begin the second half and increased the run to 15-3 behind six points from
Amesha Harden-Pullium to build the lead to 37-23.  Pitt-Johnstown battled back to within eight at 45-37 on Moreland's 3-pointer and a short jumper from McCabe entering the fourth quarter.
 
Bekelja's 3-pointer followed by another bucket from Bobo pushed Clarion's lead back out to 13 at 50-37 with just under eight minutes to play.  Pitt-Johnstown was never able to get the lead back under double figures and the Golden Eagles went on to the 16-point victory.
 
Along with McCabe's 16 points and 13 rebounds, Pitt-Johnstown also got 11 points and six rebounds from Smith and nine points and six rebounds from Moreland.
 
With her 13 rebounds, McCabe currently stands in 15^th-place on the Pitt-Johnstown Rebounding with 678 rebounds.  McCabe is also 27 points shy of becoming Pitt-Johnstown's 37^th 1,000-point scorer.
 
Bobo's 15 points paced three golden Eagles who scored in double figures.  Bekelja had 14 points and Harden-Pullium chipped-in 12 points to help Clarion improve to 6-6 overall and 2-4 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will host PSAC doubleheaders with the men's team against Indiana (PA) on Wednesday beginning at 5:30 p.m. and Gannon on January 6 starting at 1 p.m.