Riley Childress scored 11 points and Liv West Added 10 points to help the Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball team storm back from a 12-point third quarter deficit, but Wheeling was able to hold off the Mountain Cats, 62-54, Wednesday evening in Wheeling, W.Va.
 
Along with Childress and West, Pitt-Johnstown, now 0-3 to begin the season, got nine points and five rebounds from Camille Dominick, seven points from Sophia Ott, and six points apiece from M'laya Ainsworth and Alyssa Altemus.  Lexi Margolis also grabbed five boards for the Mountain Cats.
 
After Ainsworth's driving layup just over two minutes into the game gave the Mountain Cats a three-point advantage, Wheeling scored 10 of the next 12 points to take the lead, 13-8, on a Kenzie Dalton basket at 2:16.   Pitt-Johnstown then used back-to-back late jumpers from Dominick to tie it at 14 going into the second quarter.
 
The Cardinals used a Dalton bucket at the 6:54 mark of the second quarter to regain the lead 21-16, but Dominick accounted for the next five Mountain Cat points to cut it to 26-24.  Wheeling answered to outscore Pitt-Johnstown 7-0 over the final 2:14, including a 3-pointer from Emilia Sierra Lacosta, to go into the halftime break on top 33-24.
 
Margolis' jumper at 4:17 of the third quarter got the Mountain Cats back to within six.  The Cardinals came right back to push their lead out to 47-35 on another basket from Dalton, but Pitt-Johnstown scored the final five points of the quarter to make it 47-40 on a Childress 3-pointer with :19 second left.
 
The Mountain Cats kept the momentum and quickly extended the run to 11-0 on a West turn around jumper to get Pitt-Johnstown back to within one at 47-46.  However, Wheeling would not let the Mountain Cats retake the lead.  The Cardinals slowly rebuild the lead to six at 56-50 with 1:33 to play and went on to seal the game with four straight free-throws in the final :41.
 
Pitt-Johnstown, which held a 40-26 advantage in points in the paint, shot 42.6% (23-54) from the floor, while holding the Cardinals to 41.5% (22-53), but Wheeling connected on six 3-pointers and 12-15 from the line.  The Mountain Cats hit seven of their eight free-throws, but were just 1-9 from behind the arc.
 
Dalton's game-highs of 18 points and seven rebounds paced Wheeling.  Emma Reynolds and Sierra Lacosta each tallied 14 points for the Cardinals, now 2-1 on the year.
 
The Mountain Cats will begin their home schedule with a non-conference game against West Liberty (WV) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center, before visiting Point Park for another non-conference game on Sunday.