Alli McGrath scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed three rebounds, and dished out five assists to lead a balanced scoring attack in a 68-61 Pitt-Johnstown PSAC road victory at Gannon, Wednesday evening.  The Mountain Cats made it four wins in their last five games and improved to 8-6 overall and 4-3 in the PSAC West.
 
Seven early points from McGrath and an Alexis Hartwick 3-pointer helped Pitt-Johnstown take a 12-10 first quarter lead.  Gannon answered with an 8-2 spurt over the final 3:38 to go up 18-14.  Back-to-back 3-pointers from Tori Obenrader and Chelsea Rourke gave the lead back to the Golden Knights, and a late lay-up from Obenrader closed out the quarter.
 
The Mountain Cats came right back and went in front 21-20 on Hartwick's 3-pointer 2:27 into the second quarter. Rourke's layup helped Gannon rebuild its lead to 30-25 at the 4:36 mark, before a basket from Laurel O'Barto followed by a free-throw from McGrath with one second left cut Pitt-Johnstown's deficit to 34-31 at the half.
 
McGrath's 3-pointer on Pitt-Johnstown's first possession of the third quarter knotted it at 34, but Gannon quickly got it back out to 38-34.  The Mountain Cats went on an 11-0 run, capped by Tori Moreland's 3-pointer and four straight points from Smith, to retake the lead 45-38 at the 3:20 mark, before Hartwick's layup at the buzzer gave Pitt-Johnstown a 50-44 advantage.
 
The Golden Knights opened the fourth quarter on a 7-2 run to narrow it to 52-51 on Rourke's 3-pointer, but the Mountain Cats extended it back out to 61-53 on a Nicole Olkosky basket and another Hartwick 3-pointer at 3:13.  Nicole LaCava's layup with 1:23 to play got Gannon to within two at 63-61, but Pitt-Johnstown never let it get any closer.
 
Along with McGrath, Pitt-Johnstown also got 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds from Smith, and 14 points, including three 3-pointers, and six rebounds from Hartwick.  Moreland finished with nine points.
 
The Mountain Cats shot a solid 49.0% (25-51) and connected on 6-14 from 3-point range, while holding Gannon to 45.3% shooting and just 5-21 from behind the 3-point arc.  Pitt-Johnstown was also 12-16 from the free-throw line.  The Golden Knights shot 8-12 from the charity stripe.
 
LaCava's 17 points and seven rebounds led Gannon.  Obenrader had 15 points and seven rebounds, and Rourke finished with 14 points for the Golden Knights, who slipped to 6-9 overall and 2-6 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown returns home to host PSAC doubleheaders in the Sports Center with the Mountain Cat men's team against Edinboro on Saturday at 1 p.m. and California (PA) on January 16 at 5:30 p.m.