Gabrielle Smith matched her career-high with 22 points, and Alexis Hartwick added 16 points to help Pitt-Johnstown pull away for a 70-58 PSAC victory at Slippery Rock, Saturday afternoon.  The Cats snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 10-16 overall and 7-14 in conference-play.
 
Four points from Hartwick and a basket from Smith gave Pitt-Johnstown a three-point lead to start.  Slippery Rock answered with a pair of 3-pointers from Mallory Heinle and a layup from Brooke Hinderliter in a 9-0 run over the final seven minutes of the first quarter to take a 14-8 lead.
 
Pitt-Johnstown was able to regain control in the second quarter and outscored Slippery Rock 17-6 to go up by five at the break.  The Cats cut the deficit to one on four occasions, before Tori Moreland's bucket at 2:20 gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown, 21-20.  Smith's lay-up, followed by Nicole Olkosky's basket in the paint with 10 seconds left in the half made it 25-20.
 
In the third quarter, Pitt-Johnstown let Slippery Rock get close, but never gave up the lead.  After Hinderliter's conventional 3-point play made it a one-point game at the six-minute mark, Olivia McCabe connected on a pair of free-throws and Smith added a basket to increase the Cat's lead to 41-35.  The Rock countered with two free-throws from Heinle with 17 seconds remaining to get Slippery Rock to within four at 43-39 entering the fourth quarter.
 
Hartwick's 3-pointer a minute into the fourth quarter pushed the Cats' lead to seven, and baskets from Smith and McCabe made it 57-45 with 5:22 to play.  Heinle's 3-pointer a minute later got The Rock back to within seven, but Pitt-Johnstown was able to get the lead back out to a dozen with 2:42 to play and went on to hit 6-of-8 free-throws in the final 1:22 close out the victory.
 
Smith finished with a game-high 22 points and six rebounds, and Hartwick collected 16 points and four rebounds to pace Pitt-Johnstown.  The Cats also got 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds from McCabe, 10 points from Moreland, and seven points off the bench from Mia Oterson.
 
McCabe moved into in 25^th place on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,166 points and is currently seventh on the All-Time Rebounding List with 814 rebounds.
 
Pitt-Johnstown shot 47.2% (25-53) from the floor, 4-9 from behind the 3-point arc, and 16-19 from the charity stripe.  The Rock was held to just 36.1% (22-61) shooting for the game, including just 4-20 from 3-point range.  Slippery Rock was also 10-11 from the free-throw line.
 
Hinderliter had 17 points and five rebounds, and Heinle had 11 points and six rebounds to lead Slippery Rock, which fell to 13-13 overall and 10-11 in the PSAC.
 
Pitt-Johnstown will finish the 2017-18 season with a PSAC road game at Mercyhurst on Wednesday.