Alli McGrath poured in a game-high 24 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Pitt-Johnstown to a 64-52 victory over Winston-Salem State (NC) University in Saturday's final round of the 2018 Shepherd (WV) University Conference Challenge.  The Mountain Cats improved to 2-0.
 
Layups from McGrath and Gabrielle Smith erased an early four-point Pitt-Johnstown deficit to tie it at seven with 2:31 left in the opening quarter.  Winston-Salem State got its lead back out to three and Laichelle Sparrow's free-throw gave the Rams a 13-11 lead.
 
Tori Moreland's free-throws tied it a 19 at 4:06 of the second quarter, before Winston-Salem State regained the lead by three on an Amaya Tucker 3-pointer.  However, the Mountain Cats went on to outscore the Rams 10-0 over the final 3:49 to take a seven-point halftime lead.  Nicole Olksoky's jumper gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown with 1:21 remaining and three more of McGrath's 13 first half points made it 29-22.
 
After the Mountain Cats extended the run to 12-0 on Olkosky's bucket to begin the third quarter, the Rams pulled to within four at 36-32 on Taylor Daniels' jumper at 4:34.  Pitt-Johnstown bounced back to score the next six, including a pair of free-throws from Smith three minutes later, to build the lead to 10, before taking a 42-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
Winston-Salem State got it down to 43-39 early in the fourth quarter on a Dajha Williams basket, but two straight buckets from Maddie Shanahan increased Pitt-Johnstown's lead to 52-43 with 6:56 to play.  The Mountain Cats never let the Rams get closer than six the rest of the way, and Smith and McGrath combined to make 4-of-6 free-throws in the final 1:40 to seal the 10-point win.
 
McGrath's 24 points paced three Pitt-Johnstown players who scored in double figures.  Smith had 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, and Olkosky recorded her second straight double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.  The Mountain Cats also got six points and four rebounds off the bench from Shanahan.
 
Pitt-Johnstown shot 43.8% (21-48 from the field, while holding the Rams to just 31.0% shooting (22-71) and 2-17 shooting from 3-point range.  The Mountain Cats were 3-9 from behind the arc and made 19-of-25 from the free-throw line.  Winston-Salem State was 6-15 from the charity stripe.
 
Tucker's 10 points led Winston-Salem State, which fell to 0-2.  The Rams also got eight points and 10 rebounds from Williams and eight points from Daniels.
 
Pitt-Johnstown travels to a non-conference game at West Virginia Wesleyan on Wednesday, before opening PSAC-play at Bloomsburg on Sunday..  The Mountain Cats will make their home debut with a PSAC game against Kutztown as part of a doubleheader with the men's team on December 8 at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center.