The Pitt-Johnstown men's and women's basketball teams return to the Sports Center to host a PSAC Western Division doubleheader against Slippery on Saturday.  The women will tip off at 1 p.m. with the men's game scheduled for 3 p.m.
 
The Pitt-Johnstown women, under second-year Head Coach D'wan Shackleford-Vickroy is 5-9 overall and 2-5 in the PSAC following Wednesday's narrow, 68-60, loss at No. 8 Indiana (PA).  Lexi Margolis scored 14 points, Camille Dominick had 11 points, and M'laya Ainsworth and Riley Childress each added seven points for Pitt-Johnstown.  On Jan. 2, the Mountain Cats got a dozen points each from Sophia Ott and Margolis in a 69-47 win over Millersville, before Ott and Margolis combined for 27 points in a 63-57 victory of Shepherd on Jan. 3.
 
Head Coach Ryenn Micaletti's (3^rd year) Slippery Rock squad enters the game at 5-8 overall and 3-4 in the PSAC after suffering a 72-67 loss at Clarion on Wednesday.  Kayley Joseph-Bernard led the way with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Alyssa Gillin tallied 16 points to pace four Slippery Rock players who scored in double figures.  The Rock also opened the new year with a 65-57 loss to Bloomsburg on Jan. 2 and a 69-65 loss to East Stroudsburg on Jan. 3.  Gillin scored 17 points, and Sophia Hook tallied 12 points and six rebounds against East Stroudsburg.
 
Pitt-Johnstown has won 23 of the 30 meetings between the teams since the 2004-05 season.  Last year, Pitt-Johnstown split a pair of PSAC games.  On Jan. 6 in Slippery Rock, The Rock earned a 71-58 victory, before the Mountain Cats responded with a, 69-67, double overtime win in the Sports Center on Feb. 15.  Childress and Belle Bosch collected 15 points apiece to pace four Pitt-Johnstown double-figure scorers.  Anye Washington's game-high 18 points led Slippery Rock.
 
 
Head Coach Bob Rukavina and the Pitt-Johnstown men's team are 9-6 overall and 3-4 in conference-play after an 80-70 setback at Indiana (PA) in Wednesday's PSAC West opener. Jay Rose posted a team-high 18 points, and Baden Forup eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his collegiate career with 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.  Will Kromka also scored 16 points for the Mountain Cats.
 
Forup, who scored 381 during the 2023-24 season at Capital (OH), entered Wednesday's game with 690 career points.  In less than two seasons at Pitt-Johnstown, Forup has collected 625 points and currently has 1,006 in his collegiate career.
 
Slippery Rock, under eighth-year Head Coach Ian Grady, is 12-3 overall and 5-2 in conference-play following Wednesday's, 78-71, victory at Clarion.  The Rock was led by Dame Givner's game-high 24 points.  Samoura Sheick finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Isaac James had nine points and a game-high 10 boards.
 
The Mountain Cats and The Rock first met during the 1972-73 season and Pitt-Johnstown holds a 39-27 overall lead in the series.  However, Slippery Rock took a pair of games from the Mountain Cats last season.  Ryan Smith and Forup combined for 41 points, but Jomo Goings collected game-highs of 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead The Rock to a 90-74 win in Slippery Rock on Jan. 6.  Slippery Rock then earned an 84-64 win in the Sports Center on Feb. 15 behind Maceo Austin's 26 points and Goings' 25 points.  Rose had 19 points and eight rebounds, and Forup had 16 points to pace the Mountain Cats.
 
Both Pitt-Johnstown teams travel to PSAC games at Edinboro on Wednesday and Clarion next Saturday, before returning home for Winterfest Weekend to host a conference doubleheader against nationally-ranked Gannon on Jan. 24.