Mansfield University Athletics issued the following announcement on Jan. 19.
The Mansfield University women's basketball team suffered a setback at the hands of University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 19, falling 59-47 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East-West crossover action inside Decker Gymnasium.
The Mountaineers fall to 5-8 overall and 4-5 in conference, while the Mountain Cats improve to 6-9 and 4-5 in the PSAC.
The Mountaineers outscored the Mountain Cats by a total of five points in the first, third and fourth period, but it wasn't enough to overcome a dominant 20-4 UPJ second quarter.
In the first half, the Mountaineers scored immediately off the tip when senior Kira Merritt went coast-to-coast for a layup before sophomore Logan Nutt followed suit to give the Mounties an early 4-0 lead through 30 seconds.
The Mountain Cats stopped the run with a trifecta, but Whitfield scored her first basket on the next Mountaineer possession and junior Jasmine Hilton followed with a 3-point play the old fashion way to make it 8-3.
Back-to-back Mountaineer turnovers led to a 4-0 Mountain Cats run to knot the score at 8-8. The remainder of the quarter featured three lead changes before the Mountain Cats went 2-of-2 at the line in the closing seconds of the period to lead 15-13.
UPJ opened the second period on a 13-1 run to extend their lead to 14 with 4:40 to go before Hilton ended the run with a pair of free throws.
A free throw from sophomore Kenedy Stroup was the only other Mountaineer point in the quarter as the Mountain Cats outscored MU 20-4 to take a 35-17 lead into halftime.
The Mountaineers used a 9-0 run beginning at the 6:12 mark to cut the deficit to 41-28 with 3:42 remaining in the third. However, UPJ closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run to head into the final period with an 18-point lead.
The Mountaineers went 0-for-12 from the floor in the second quarter to allow UPJ to create separation.
The Mountaineers mirrored their start of the third quarter to open the fourth, 9-0 run to trim back into the deficit to make it 46-35 with 6:37 remaining.
The Mounties outscored the Mountain Cats, 19-13 in the fourth quarter, but time was no longer on MU's side and UPJ closed out the victory.
Reed led the Mountaineer scorers with nine points, knocking down two trifectas, while adding three rebounds and three assists. Nutt added eight points and senior Kira Merritt (five rebounds, three assists) finished with six, while Hilton pulled in a team-high eight rebounds.
Kylah Franklin and Peyton Alazaus led the Mountain Cats with a game-high 15 points.
The Mountaineers travel to Millersville University at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.
Original source can be found here.
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