Edinboro University clawed its way back from an eight-point fourth quarter deficit and was able to sneak past Pitt-Johnstown for a 68-63 PSAC Western Division victory, Saturday afternoon un the Sports Center.
Gabrielle Smith's 20 points and eight rebounds led the Mountain Cats, who slipped to 8-7 overall and 4-4 in conference-play.
The Fighting Scots jumped out to an 8-3 lead three minutes in on a Bridgette Shaffer 3-pointer, but Smith accounted for seven straight Pitt-Johnstown points to give the Mountain Cats a 10-8 advantage two minutes later.
Tori Moreland's lay-up with 1:41 left in to first quarter broke a 14-all tie and put Pitt-Johnstown in front 16-14.
Another 3-pointer from Shaffer to open the second quarter gave the lead back Edinboro, before the Mountain Cats by three. Pitt-Johnstown got another bucket from Moreland to retake the lead and the Mountain Cats never trailed the remainder of the half. Two
Maddie Shanahan free-throws
at 1:27 increased it to 29-24 and Moreland's 3-pointer with :05 left made it 34-26 at the break.
Pitt-Johnstown built the lead to as many as 10 at 36-26 just over a minute into the third quarter until the Fighting Scots used a 16-6 run over the next eight minutes to knot it at 42 on Jontay Walton's basket.
Buckets by
Alli McGrath and Shanahan early in the final period got the Mountain Cats' lead back out to 52-44, before Edinboro mounted its comeback. Walton hit a 3-pointer at the 5:33 mark to help the Fighting Scots regain the lead 53-52. It stayed close the rest of the way. Edinboro took the lead for good on three more of Walton's game-high 38 points with :48 left and the Fighting Scots went on to connect on eight straight free-throws down the stretch to close out the five-point win.
Smith's 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three blocks led three Mountain Cats who scored in double figures. Moreland finished with 18 points, and McGrath had 11 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Pitt-Johnstown also got eight points and seven rebounds from Shanahan.
Pitt-Johnstown, which held a 34-28 advantage on the glass, ended the day shooting 42.9% (21-49) from the floor, but just 3-15 from behind the arc. The Mountain Cats were 18-21 from the free-throw line. Edinboro was held to 39.0% (23-59) shooting, but hit 9-23 from 3-point range and 13-14 from the charity stripe.
Walton led all scorers with 38 points (10-10 FTs) and five rebounds, and Shaffer added 12 points and four rebounds to help the Fighting Scots improve to 10-3 overall and 6-2 in the PSAC West.
Pitt-Johnstown will host a PSAC doubleheader in the Sports Center with the Mountain Cat men's team against California (PA) on Wednesday starting at 5:30 p.m., before traveling to conference game at Mercyhurst next Saturday at Slippery Rock on January 23.
