Edinboro used a strong second quarter to climb out to a 17-point halftime lead on its way to an 86-55 PSAC Western Division victory over the Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball team, Wednesday evening in Edinboro.
Makalyn Clapper scored 12 points and
Gabrielle Smith added 10 points and four rebounds for the Mountain Cats, who fell to 7-7 overall and 2-6 in conference-play.
Along with Clapper and Smith, Pitt-Johnstown also got eight points off the bench from
Lindsay Shuke, six points from
Alli McGrath, and five points and three rebounds from
Olivia Fasick.
Edinboro hit 10-14 from the free-throw line and held a 14-point advantage in points in the paint to build the halftime lead.
After Smith's basket in the paint tied it at eight with 4:45 to go in the opening quarter, Edinboro followed with a 12-3 run, capped by a Michaela Barnes' layup, to
put the Fighting Scots in front by nine. Pitt-Johnstown got a jumper from Clapper late in the quarter to cut it to 22-15.
Edinboro came out and outscored the Mountain Cats 18-8 in the second quarter to get the lead out to 17 at the half. Bridgette Shafffer's 3-pointer at 8:17 pushed the lead into double figures, before the Fighting Scots extended it to 38-18 on a Monica Brown 3-pointer at 1:56. Pitt-Johnstown was able to narrow it to 40-23 at the break on Smith's basket and a 3-pointer from Shuke.
Back-to-back baskets from Barnes closed out a 15-7 Edinboro run over the first four minutes of the third quarter to make it 55-30 and the Fighting Scots went on to the victory.
Pitt-Johnstown shot just 35.8% from the floor, including jus t4-25 from 3-point range. The Mountain Cats were also 13-15 from the free-throw line. Edinboro, which outrebounded the Mountain Cats 47-24 and outscored Pitt-Johnstown 54-24 in the paint, finished the night shooting 49.3% (34-69). The Fighting Scots were 3-19 from behind the arc and 15-21 from the charity stripe.
Barnes' game-high 24 points led the way for Edinboro, which evened its record and 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the PSAC West. Cheniya Sharpe had a double-double of 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and Madison Amalia chipped-in 10 points for the Fighting Scots.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to Clarion on Saturday for a PSAC game, before hosting a conference doubleheader with the men's team against Mercyhurst on January 15 starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Sports Center.
