Peyton Alazaus and Cassidy Crawford made their Pitt-Johnstown debuts a memorable one leading Pitt-Johnstown to a 60-55 season-opening win over the hosts in Friday night First Round of the Frostburg State (MD) Jim Crawly Conference Crossover.
 
Alazaus, a red-shirt freshman, scored a game-high 26 points, including 9-18 shooting and 6-12 shooting from behind the 3-point line, in her collegiate debut.  She also pulled down six rebounds.  Crawford, a transfer from Ashland (OH) University, added 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Alazaus' knocked down a pair of 3-pointers to give Pitt-Johnstown an early 8-3 first quarter lead, but Maggie Sharpe made four consecutive free-throws late in the quarter to put Frostburg State on top, 13-10.
 
The Bobcats pushed it out to 18-13 on a Samiya Esema jumper midway through the second quarter, before the Mountain Cats battled back behind Alazaus.  Three more of Alazaus' 16 first half points and two Crawford free-throws gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown with under a minute remaining, and Kendyl McKissock hit a pair from the line with :26 left to make it 27-23.
 
The Mountain Cats held the momentum with a 12-2 run to begin the second half.  Five straight points from Alazaus, including her fifth 3-pointer of the night, helped increase the lead to 34-23, and Crawford's 3-pointer at 6:38 pushed it out to 39-25.
 
After buckets by Shelby Funchess and Ciara Thomas got Frostburg State to within 11 at the two minute mark of the third quarter, Crawford hit a 3-pointer, then scored in the paint to rebuild the lead to 14, and Pitt-Johnstown held a 46-35 lead entering the final quarter.
 
The Bobcats answered a Makalyn Clapper 3-pointer that got the Mountain Cats back up by 14 with a 9-2 spurt over the next four minutes to cut it to 51-44 on Esema's basket at 5:24, but it wasn't enough.
 
Ashley Norling and Clapper each scored four points and combined to grab 13 rebounds for Pitt-Johnstown, and Olivia Fasick tallied four points, five rebounds, and three assists.
 
Neither team shot the ball all that well, but Pitt-Johnstown, which shot 27.9% (19-68) from the floor, made 10 3-pointers, compared to just 3-11 for the Bobcats.  The Mountain Cats were also 12-23 from the charity stripe.  Frostburg Stats shot 29.1% (16-55) from the field and 20-30 from the free-throw line.
 
Sharpe's 16 points and seven rebounds, and Morgan Dombrowski's double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds led the Bobcats.
 
Pitt-Johnstown closes out the Frostburg State Classic on Saturday against Davis & Elkins at 1 p.m., before making its 2021-22 home debut on Wednesday as part of a non-conference doubleheader with the men's team.  The women will host West Virginia State at 5:30 p.m., before the men take on No. 14 West Liberty (WV) at 7:30 p.m. in the sports Center.