Lady Cats Fall Behind Early and Suffer 89-67 Loss at Fairmont State
02/21/09...Lindsay Cale (Hummelstown, Pa.) scored 25 points and Sheena Aden (Sandy Lake, Pa.) added 15 points, but the Lady Cat basketball team was not able to overcome a 19-point halftime deficit, and suffered an 89-67 loss at Fairmont State (WV) University, Saturday afternoon. Pitt-Johnstown fell to 15-10 overall and 13-5 in the WVIAC.
Fairmont State raced out to an 8-0 lead two minutes into the game, but Lindsay Cale's (Hummelstown, Pa.) basket at 14:07 ended a 10-4 Lady Cat run and cut the deficit to 12-10. The Lady Falcons pushed the lead out to 24-12 three minutes later on back-to-back three-pointers by Ashley Vavrek. Fairmont State continued to build its advantage, before taking its largest lead of the half at 44-25 on a Vavrek free-throw just before halftime.
Pitt-Johnstown outscored the Lady Falcons 7-1 to start the second half to pull to within 45-32 on Qiuana Brown's (Monroeville, Pa.) three-pointer, but Fairmont State used a 13-4 run over the next 4:22 to extend the lead to 58-36 with 11:46 to play. The Lady Falcons raised the lead to 26 points with 7:20 remaining. Cale's layup at the 3:08 cut the lead to 18 points, before Fairmont State went on to the 22-point victory.
Cale led three Lady Cats who scored in double figures with 25 points on 7-16 shooting from the field and 10-10 from the free-throw line, while Aden added added 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. Andrea Dalton (Washington, Pa.) scored 10 points, and Monae Baker (Bushkill, Pa.) netted nine points and pulled down a team-best six rebounds.
Cale is currently tied for 25th place with Lynne Ashbridge (1986-90) on the Lady Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,048 career-points. Cale needs three points to tie Crystal Barr (2000-04) for 24th place and seven points to tie Janet Kartovicky (1983-87) for 23rd place on the scoring list. Cale is also 28th on the all-time rebounding list with 443, one rebound away from Lisa Britt (1976-80) for 27th place.
Pitt-Johnstown struggled shooting the ball, hitting only 35.3% (24-68) from the field and just 4-19 from three-point range. Fairmont State ended the day shooting 59.6% (34-57) from the field and 10-17 from behind the three-point line. The Lady Falcons, who out rebounded the Lady Cats 41-35, were 11-19 from the free-throw line. Pitt-Johnstown was 15-22 from the charity stripe.
Vavrek's 29 points, including 8-11 from three-point range, led all scorers. Gabby Gattuso and Molly Kiger scored 17 and 16 points, respectively for Fairmont State. Samantha Wanichko tallied seven points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Lady Falcons, who made it seven straight wins and improved to 16-9 overall and 13-5 in conference play.
The Lady Cats return home to host WVIAC doubleheaders with the Mountain Cats against Salem International (WV) University on Monday and Shepherd (WV) University to celebrate Senior Day and wrap-up the regular season on Saturday in the Sports Center. The Lady Cats will tip-off Monday's games at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Lady Cats will tip-off at 2:00 p.m. with the men's game to follow at 4:00 p.m.