After winning five of its last seven games, the Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball team climbed into the fifth spot in the PSAC West standings entering Saturday's key conference match-up at Edinboro.  Peyton Alazaus scored a game-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and Kylah Franklin added 15 points and five rebounds to help Pitt-Johnstown outscore the Fighting Scots by 14 in the fourth quarter, but Edinboro was able to hold on for a tight 70-69 win.  The Mountain Cats are now 9-12 overall and 7-8 in the PSAC West.
 
Ashley Norling chipped-in seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds, Olivia Fasick netted nine points and dished out five assists, and Molly Wagoner pulled down five rebounds for the Mountain Cats.
 
The Mountain Cats got off to a quick start and used back-to-back 3-pointers from Fasick and Hayden Taylor to close out a 9-0 run and open-up a five-point lead six minutes into the opening quarter.  Edinboro came back to take an 18-13 lead into the second quarter on six straight points from Rana Elhusseini.
 
After Emma Elash's 3-pointer just over a minute into the second quarter gave the Fighting Scots an eight-point advantage, Pitt-Johnstown quickly responded with a Kendyl KcKissock 3-pointer and a driving layup from Makalyn Clapper to make it 24-21.  Edinboro pushed its lead out to a dozen at the 2:19 mark, but the Mountain Cats got a 3-pointer from Alazaus and a bucket from Molly Wagoner in the paint to help narrow the deficit to 37-28 at the half.
 
Pitt-Johnstown played Edinboro even for much of the third quarter, but the Fighting Scots hit seven free-throws in the final 2:39 to go on top, 58-43.
 
It was all Pitt-Johnstown in the fourth quarter.  The Mountain Cats got right back in it by outscoring Edinboro, 7-1, to cut it to 59-50 on five straight points from Franklin to begin the quarter.  Alazaus and Franklin followed with a pair of free-throws each and Fasick's driving layup at 3:09 made it a five-point game.  Pitt-Johnstown kept battling and moved its fourth-quarter run out to 19-7.  Alazaus' 3-pointer made it 65-62 with :29 remaining, and Franklin's bucket with :01 got the Mountain Cats to within one.  The Fighting Scots make a pair of free-throws to go back up by four, and Alazaus' fifth 3-pointer of the day as time expired got Pitt-Johnstown back to one.
 
Pitt-Johnstown shot 43.6% (24-55) from the floor and 10-21 from 3-point range, while holding the Fighting Scots to just 40.0% shooting and 7-16 from behind the arc.
 
Elash scored 18 points and Elhusseini tallied 13 points and seven rebounds for Edinboro, now 9-7 overall and 7-6 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown ends a stretch of four straight PSAC road games at Gannon on Monday, before the Mountain Cats return home to host Slippery Rock as part of a conference doubleheader with the men's team on Wednesday starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Sports Center.