Lady Cats Fall to #19 Fairmont State 66-59 on Senior Night
02/16/08...The Lady Cat basketball team gave #19 Fairmont State (WV) University everything it could handle on Saturday's Senior Night in the Sports Center, but Pitt Johnstown could not pull off the upset, as the Lady Falcons earned a 66-59 victory. Lindsay Cale (Hummelstown, Pa.) scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to lead Pitt Johnstown, which dropped to 10-15 overall and 9-9 in the WVIAC.
Prior to the game, Pitt Johnstown recognized senior Jill Maurer (Johnstown, Pa.) and red -shirt junior Krista Britcher (Johnstown, Pa.), who both played their final regular season games in the Sports Center.
The Lady Cats battled back from a 19-11 deficit with 9:20 to play in the first half with a 17-9 run to go into the locker room tied, 28-28 at halftime. Fairmont State rebuilt the lead to eight points with 9:52 to play, before Pitt Johnstown cut it to 54-52 at 5:52. However, that was as close as the Lady Cats would get, before suffering the seven-point loss.
Cale shot 5-11 from the field and 5-6 from the free-throw line to lead four Lady Cats who scored in double figures. Britcher and Sheena Aden (Sandy lake, Pa.) each scored 12 points pulled down five rebounds, while Chrissy Forster (Lewisberry, Pa.) rounded out the double figures with 10 points and five rebounds. Head Coach Sasha Palmer also got eight rebounds from Qiuana Brown (Monroeville, Pa.) and seven rebounds from Maurer in the loss.
Pitt Johnstown was held to just 37.9% (22-58) shooting from the field and 26.3% (5-19) from three-point range. The Lady Cats also hit 10-14 from the free-throw line and out rebounded Fairmont State 47-31 including holding a 14-8 advantage on the offensive glass. The Lady Falcons ended the night 41.9% (26-62) from the field. Fairmont State 2-8 from behind the three-point line was 12-18 from the free-throw line.
Gabby Gattuso scored a game-high 26 points, while Danielle Cornish added 20 points and nine rebounds to help the Lady Falcons improve to 20-5 overall and 14-4 in conference play.
The Lady Cats wrap-up the regular season at Salem International (WV) University on Thursday and at Shepherd (WV) University on Saturday. The Lady Cats will also play in the First Round of the 2008 WVIAC Tournament on February 25 at a site to be determined.