Ninth-ranked California (PA) held a 39-point advantage in second chance points and points off of turnovers and went on to hand the Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball team an 80-57 PSAC Western Division loss, Friday evening in California.  Alli McGrath's 14 points, seven rebounds, and four assists led Pitt-Johnstown, which slipped to 7-5 overall and 2-4 in conference-play.
 
Along with McGrath, Mia Oterson scored nine points, while Maddie Shanahan added seven points and five rebounds for the Mountain Cats.  Pitt-Johnstown also got seven points and three assists from Olivia Fasick and seven points from Gabrielle Smith.
 
California (PA) got off to a strong start.  The Vulcans used 15 points off of turnovers and 14 second-chance points to climb out to a nine-point halftime lead.
 
McGrath's 3-pointer cut an early eight-point Pitt-Johnstown deficit to one, but California (PA), sparked by seven points off the bench from DJ Hahn, outscored the Mountain Cats 12-2 over the final 3:17 of the opening quarter to build a 20-9 advantage.
 
The Vulcans increased the lead to 15 four minutes into the second quarter on a Shauna Harrison bucket, before Pitt-Johnstown answered with a 13-7 spurt to narrow the gap to 35-26 at the break on a pair of Smith free-throws and a McGrath jumper as time expired.
 
Harrison hit two 3-pointers to begin the third quarter that helped California (PA) get the lead out to 17.  The Mountain Cats got a 3-pointer from Fasick at 5:27 to get it down to 46-34, but the Vulcans quickly regained control and took a 58-36 lead into the final quarter on Monica Burns' free-throws and Hahn's late jumper.
 
California (PA) maintained at least a 17-point lead throughout the fourth quarter and went on to the 23-point victory.
 
Pitt-Johnstown shot 38% (19-50 from the floor, 4-14 from behind the arc, and 15-23 from the free-throw line.  The Vulcans were held to just 34% shooting, but hit six 3-pointers and went 28-36 from the charity stripe. California (PA) also scored 31 points off of turnovers and turned 24 offensive rebounds into 19 points.
 
Bianca Jasper scored a game-high 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead five Vulcans who scored in double figures.  Hahn (16 points, 8 rebounds), Monica Burns (14 points, 7 rebounds), Harrison (12 points,) and Citiana Negatu (11 points, 7 rebounds) also scored in double  figures for California (PA), which improved to 10-2 overall and 4-2 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown returns home to kick-off the Spring Semester with a PSAC doubleheader with the men's team against Gannon, Monday night in the Sports Center.  The women will tip-off at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game to follow at 7:30 p.m.