Gabrielle Smith scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Pitt-Johnstown hit 8-of-16 from behind the arc to secure a 67-57 PSAC Western Division win at Mercyhurst, Monday afternoon.  The Mountain Cats improved to 9-8 overall and evened its record at 5-5 in conference-play.
 
Tori Moreland and Alli McGrath combined for five 3-pointers and accounted for 21 of Pitt-Johnstown 23 first quarter points to help the Mountain Cats climb out to a five-point lead.  Moreland's third 3-pointer of the opening quarter gave the led back to Pitt-Johnstown, before McGrath's 3-pointer less than a minute later made it 21-16.  Mercyhurst came back with a pair of late free-throws from Jenna Kunst to cut it to 23-20.
 
Another 3-pointer from Moreland and a pair of Smith free-throws closed out a 9-2 Pitt-Johnstown run over the first five minutes of the second quarter to get the lead out to 10, before the Lakers scored the next seven, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Rachel Chessar, to narrow it to 32-29.  The Mountain Cats recovered and got a free-throw from Maddie Shanahan and a bucket from Smith with :50 left to rebuild the lead to 37-31 at the break.
 
Two straight buckets by Kunst got the Lakers back to within two three minutes into the third quarter, but Moreland's fifth 3-pointer of the afternoon ignited a 9-0 Mountain Cat run that pushed the lead out to 46-35 at 3:24.  Mercyhurst battled back to make it 46-40 entering the fourth quarter on an Amber Renz 3-pointer.
 
After Maurina Nunn's bucket 8:29 increased Pitt-Johnstown's lead back out to nine, the Lakers got a layup from Eliza Oswalt to get to with four at 51-47.  The Mountain Cats then countered with Alexis Hartwick's 3-pointer and a jumper by McGrath to make it 56-47 just over a minute later.  However, Pitt-Johnstown never get closer than five the rest of the way and went on to the 10-point victory.
 
Smith's 21 points led three Mountain Cats who scored in double figures.  Moreland went 5-7 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points and five rebounds, while McGrath scored 14 points.  Pitt-Johnstown also got nine points and five rebounds off the bench from Hartwick and seven rebounds from Shanahan.
 
The Mountain Cats, who outrebounded the Lakers, 39-29, shot 41.5% (22-53) from the field, but hit 8-6 from behind the 2-point line and 15-18 from the charity stripe.  Mercyhurst was held to 40.4% (23-37) shooting from the floor, 7-21 from 3-point range, and 4-8 from the free-throw line.
 
Kunst had a team-high 17 points, while Renz and Emily Shopene scored 11 and 10 points, respectively for Merrcyhurst, which fell to 7-6 overall and 5-5 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown travels to Slippery Rock for a PSAC game on Wednesday, before hosting a conference doubleheader with the men's team against Seton Hill next Saturday in the Sports Center.  The women will tip-off against the Griffins at 1 p.m. with the men's game scheduled for 3:00 pm.