Angel Ezirim scored 13 points and pulled down a career-high eight rebounds, and M'laya Ainsworth added 13 points and five boards, but Clarion used a strong second half to turn a six-point halftime advantage into an 86-72 PSAC West victory over the Pitt-Johnstown women's basketball team, Saturday afternoon in Clarion.
 
Along with Ezirim and Ainsworth, Liv West scored 11 points and Sophia Ott netted chipped in 10 points and five rebounds off the bench for Pitt-Johnstown, now 6-11 overall and 3-7 in the PSAC West.  The Mountain Cats also got nine points and eight assists from Lexi Margolis and four points and a career-high matching six rebounds from Aubree Price.
 
After a sluggish start by both teams, Lydia Miller knocked down a floater in the lane at the 4:07 mark of the first quarter to give Pitt-Johnstown a four-point lead.  Clarion went on to outscored Pitt-Johnstown, 12-4, the rest of the way and got a bucket from Arianna Seitz as time ran out to put the Golden Eagles on top, 18-14.
 
A pair of free-throws from Ezirim and a jumper from Miller just over four minutes into the second quarter briefly gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown.  Clarion came right back to rebuild its lead to six at 36-30 on two of Zoe Guice's 19 first half points and the Golden Eagles took a 40-34 advantage into the halftime break.
 
Clarion used an Alyssa Terza 3-pointer to extend it to nine early in the third quarter, before Ainsworth and Ott combined for 14 points in a 24-13 Mountain Cat run over the final 8:23 to help Pitt-Johnstown regain the lead, 60-58.
 
Five unanswered points to begin the fourth quarter put Clarion back on top, and Guice's driving layup at 6:06 bumped it up to 71-66.  Ezirim connected on two free-throws midway through the quarter to narrow it to three, but that was as close as the Mountain Cats could get.
 
Pitt-Johnstown closed out the day shooting 41.3% (26-63) from the floor, but just 2-20 from beyond the arc, while Clarion shot 48.5% (33-68) and 8-22 from 3-point range.  The Mountain Cats were 18-23 from the line and the Golden Eagles made 12 of their 16 attempts.
 
Guice finished with a game-high 27 points and eight assists to lead four Golden Eagles who scored in double figures.  Seitz had 17 points and 10 boards, and Terza had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Clarion, now 10-6 overall and 5-5 in the PSAC West.
 
The Mountain Cats return home to celebrate Winterfest Weekend with a PSAC Western Division doubleheader with the women's team against nationally-ranked Gannon on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center, before hosting another conference doubleheader against Seton Hill on Jan. 28.