Edinboro, Pa. – The Edinboro women's basketball team scored a 69-60 victory over Pitt-Johnstown Wednesday night in PSAC West action inside McComb Fieldhouse.
The Mountain Cats got out to a fast start building an 8-1 lead after a Lexi Margolis 3-pointer at the 7:52 of the first.
Taylor Blunt and
Ava Haddad hit 3-pointers sandwiching a Margolis layup to cut the lead to 10-7 at the 6:29 mark. Liv West pushed the lead back out to 14-9 with a layup with 4:26 left in the first.
Rachael Manfredo scored six straight in a 6-2 spurt to cut the lead to 16-15 with 25 seconds remaining in the opening frame. M'Laya Ainsworth scored with 3 seconds left to give UPJ an 18-15 advantage after one.
Edinboro turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter. Haddad made a pair of free throws and
Carla Brown a layup to give the Scots the lead back 19-18 with 7:07 on the clock. Sophia Ott put the Mountain Cats ahead 20-19 with a jumper at the 4:33 mark. That was the last bucket of the quarter for UPJ as Edinboro closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 26-20 lead into the half.
In the third quarter, the Mountain Cats closed the gap to 30-26 after an Angel Ezirim triple with 6:05 on the clock. The Scots scored the next five points with four coming from Haddad to extend the lead to 35-26. Margolis split a pair of free throws the Scots went on 7-1 run to push the lead to 42-27 with 3:09 left in the third. The advantage grew to 18, 46-28, after a Haddad free throw. Riley Childress hit a pair of free throws to send the game to the fourth with the Scots ahead 46-30.
Edinboro held a 20-point lead, 58-38, on a Brown trey at the 4:48 mark. The Scots held off a late push from the Mountain Cats to earn the win.
Haddad led the Scot offense with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting to go with four rebounds, two steals and a block. Blunt added 15 points, five rebounds and three steals. Manfredo also reached double figures with 13 points.
West paced UPJ with 15 points. Margolis tallied 13 points, six rebounds and two steals.
The Scots return to action on Saturday with a trip to California (Pa.) for a 1 p.m. contest with the Vulcans.
