Gabrielle Smith scored 34 points and
Alli McGrath added 30 points to help the Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball team erase a 16-point second half deficit, including a 13-point deficit with four minutes to play, in an 86-85 win over Fayetteville State (NC) in Saturday's second round of the Shepherd (WV) Conference Crossover in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The Mountain Cats are now 2-0.
Fayetteville State ran out to a 17-4 lead four minutes into the opening quarter on Shenell Davis' layup, but Pitt-Johnstown answered with a 15-5 run to cut the deficit to 22-19 on McGrath's free-throw and a short jumper from Smith.
The Broncos regained control and increased their lead to 43-27 with 3:49 left in the half, before the Mountain Cats answered again. This time, Pitt-Johnstown outscored Fayetteville State 16-4 to make it a three-point game. McGrath's 3-pointer at 1:42 got the deficit back under double digits, before
Mia Oterson's 3-pointer as time expired made it 45-42 at the break.
McGrath hit another from behind the arc on the Mountain Cats' first possession of the third quarter and Smith's layup at 9:02 gave Pitt-Johnstown its first lead of the day at 47-46. Fayetteville State came right back and outscored the Mountain Cats 19-8 the rest of the way to rebuild its lead to 65-55 on a Meghan Flowers free-throw to end the quarter.
The Broncos maintained the momentum and held a 13-point advantage with 4:03 to play. That's when Pitt-Johnstown stormed back. McGrath's sixth 3-pointer of the game with :30 remaining knotted it at 83, and Smith connected on 3-of-4 free-throws down the stretch to seal the one-point victory.
Smith finished with 34 points on 12-15 shooting and 10-14 shooting from the free-throw line, while Mcgrath had 30 points on 11-16 shooting, including 6-10 from 3-point range. Smith also pulled down five rebounds and McGrath grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for Pitt-Johnstown. Oterson had six points and
Maddie Shanahan had five points, six rebounds, and a game-high seven assists.
Pitt-Johnstown an impressive 54.4% (31-57) from the floor, 11-26 from behind the arc, and 13-23 from the charity stripe. Fayetteville State finished the shooting 54.2% (32-59) from the field, 8-14 from 3-point range, and 13-18 from the free-throw line.
The Broncos, who slipped to 0-2, got a game-high 35 points from Katisha Hyman. Alyssa Thompson (14 points), Shantel Bennett (11 points), and Davis (10 points) also scored in double figures for Fayetteville State.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to a non-conference game at Alderson-Broaddus on Wednesday, before tipping-off its home schedule with a non-conference game against Wheeling (WV) University on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center.
