Lady Cats Fall, 67-64, in Home Opener to Shippensburg
11/22/08...After battling back from an eight-point halftime deficit to take several second half leads, the Lady Cat basketball team had a chance to retake the lead again with under 10 seconds to play, but Lindsay Cale's (Hummelstown's Pa.) layup was blocked and Pitt-Johnstown suffered a 67-64 loss to Shippensburg University in Saturday's home opener in the Sports Center. The Lady Cats are now 1-3.
Shippensburg climbed out to a 17-6 lead seven minutes into the game, before Pitt-Johnstown battled back to cut the lead to 31-23 at halftime. The Lady Cats came out in the second half and outscored the Red Raiders 11-2 over the first 4:40. Cale's layup at 15:20 gave Pitt-Johnstown a 34-33 lead, its first lead since it was 4-2 early in the first half. The teams were tied or exchanged the lead 14 more times before Shippensburg climbed on top for good, 65-64, on Michelle Metz' jump shot with :20 to play. After Cale's layup was blocked with :07 on the clock, Kasey Gardner made a pair of free-throws for the Red Raiders to set the final at 67-64.
Cale led three Lady Cats who scored in double figures with 18 points, including 9-10 from the free-throw line. Cale also pulled down six rebounds, blocked two shots and dished out two assists. Sheena Aden (Sandy Lake, Pa.) added 14 points on 6-8 shooting and four rebounds, before fouling out with 1:40 to play. Taylor Griffith (Hollidaysburg, Pa.) rounded out the double figures scorers with 13 points on 5-16 shooting from the field and 3-6 from three-point range. Head coach Sasha Palmer also got nine points, nine rebounds, a game-high five assists and three steals from Jamie Gennett (Davidsville, Pa.), and three points, four rebounds and three blocks from Kristin Irwin (Bellefonte, Pa.).
The Lady Cats, who were out-rebounded 40-30, ended the afternoon shooting 38.6% (22-57) from the field, 36.8% (7-19) from behind the three-point line and 81.3% (13-16) from the free-throw line. After shooting 47.8% in the first half, Shippensburg finished at 41.5% (22-53), including just 3-11 from three-point range. The Red Raiders also connected on 20-26 from the free-throw line.
Gardner led all scorers with 19 points. Lauren Beckley chipped in 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Jenn Morrow collected 12 points off of the bench to help Shippensburg stay unbeaten and improve to 3-0.
The Lady Cats travel to NCAA Division II #11-ranked Indiana University (PA) on Tuesday, before hosting #2-ranked California University (PA) on Tuesday, December 3 at 7:00 p.m. in the Sports Center.