JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Pitt-Johnstown carried a double-digit lead into halftime against No. 6 ranked IUP before seeing it slip away out of the break in a 75-60 loss on Wednesday night at the Sports Center.

The Mountain Cats slipped to 7-15 (4-11 PSAC).

Less than a week after scoring a career-best 23 to lead the Mountain Cats to an overtime win against Slippery Rock, senior guard Lexi Margolis drilled eight 3-pointers and set a new career-high with 26 points. She finished 9 of 16 from the floor and added three assists and two steals.

Freshman Angel Ezirim also reached double-figures with 10 points. Sophia Ott contributed eight points and three steals in 16 minutes off the bench, while Riley Childress dished out a game-high seven assists and grabbed four rebounds.

Margolis connected on three triples within the first four minutes as the Mountain Cats jumped out to a 13-0 advantage. She hit two more that extended Pitt-Johnstown's lead to 19-2 at the 3:44 mark of the opening quarter.

Ezirim drained a three in the waning seconds as the Mountain Cats took a 24-9 lead into the second. Margolis scored her only points that didn't come from beyond the arc on a layup to give Pitt-Johnstown its largest lead at 35-17 with 4:37 to go before halftime.

Despite a late rally from IUP, Pitt-Johnstown took a 41-31 edge into the break.

The Mountain Cats, however, could not overcome a 7 for 11 shooting performance from IUP in the third quarter that led to them getting outscored 22-11 in the third. They went into the fourth down 53-52.

After Ott opened the fourth quarter with a layup to take a brief lead, IUP stole the lead back for good with a layup just 17 seconds later before hanging on to win.

Pitt-Johnstown finished 36.4% (20 of 55) from the floor, 43.5% (10 of 23) from beyond the 3-point arc and 62.5% (10 of 16) at the free-throw line.

Teresa Maggio scored a team-high 20 points for IUP, which improved to 20-1 (13-1 PSAC).

Pitt-Johnstown will host Edinboro in a 1 p.m. tip-off on Saturday at the Sports Center.