MANSFIELD – The Mansfield Mountaineers and University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown women's basketball teams battled to a double-overtime decision in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon. Five Mounties scored in double digits, but the Mountain Cats came away with a 98-93 win after 250 minutes of play.
 
The game started with UPJ leading 9-7 before the Mountaineers went on a 13-2 run. Senior guard McKenzie Hatch scored five points in the quarter which included a marvelous coast-to-coast layup, and a momentum-shifting three-pointer. Also in the first quarter, Mia Leonard sparked in the paint with three rebounds and six points on 3-for-4 shooting. She and Hatch accounted for the Mountaineers' first 11 points of the game. Erin Gibbons hit a three at the buzzer to conclude the quarter with Mansfield up 20-11.
 
Pittsburgh-Johnstown battled back behind the efforts of Tori Moreland, who scored all eight of her points on the game in the second quarter. Mansfield's Paige Whitfield knocked down a huge three-point shot to give the Mounties a 29-21 lead, however UPJ again battled back. Abbie Pechin got to the line and hit two free throws to give Pitt-Johnstown their first lead in over 12 minutes of play. Sydney Reed then hit two free throws for Mansfield and Kira Merritt buried a three with time winding down to keep the positive momentum for the Mounties entering halftime.
 
Right off the inbound to start the second half, Erin Gibbons stole the ball from UPJ and took it to the hoop for two. On the next Mansfield possession, the sophomore guard connected on a trifecta. In the last two minutes of the third quarter, Gabrielle Smith single-handedly scored the final 10 Mountain Cat points, giving UPJ the lead heading into the fourth.
 
In the final 10 minutes of regulation, Pittsburgh-Johnstown pulled five points ahead for their largest lead of the night up to that point. For nearly six minutes of play, Mansfield battled and went on a 14-9 run. With Mansfield up two and just 17 seconds left in regulation, Maddie Shanahan made a layup for UPJ to tie it up at 79-79 and send the game to overtime.  
 
The first overtime was unable to show any separation from the teams, and it came to a close still knotted up. Merritt hit a clutch layup with 9.1 seconds left to add another period of extra time. Gibbons scored 17 of her team-high 20 points on the night between the second half and up until she fouled out of the game in the final overtime.
 
UPJ outlasted Mansfield and was able to hold on to a 98-93 double overtime thriller. Gabrielle Smith and Alli McGrath combined to score 69 points and led UPJ. 29 of Smith's 37 points came from the second half on. McGrath finished the night with 32 points, two steals, six assists, and seven rebounds. Maddie Shanahan and Tori Moreland both scored eight points. Shanahan's nine rebounds were the game-high.
 
Gibbons' 20 points led a well-balanced Mounties' offense. In total, five players – Gibbons (20), Leonard (16), Cameron (14), Ellie Thompson (13), and Whitfield (12) - scored double digits. The Forty Fort, Pa. native Gibbons also added six rebounds and led the team with four assists. All 13 of Thompson's points came from the foul line, where she was 13-of-14.  Merritt had nine points, Hatch had seven, and Sydney Reed rounded out the scoring with a pair of free throws. Leonard and Merritt both pulled down the team-high of eight rebounds. 

Career-highs were reached by Gibbons (5 steals), Merritt (8 rebounds, 3 steals), Thompson (3 assists), Leonard (16 points), and Whitfield (12 points)
 
Mansfield is back in action tomorrow afternoon, hosting Gannon University for the second game of the weekend. Gannon (4-4, 0-1) enters the contest coming off of a 56-41 loss to Bloomsburg on Saturday.

For live coverage of that game, click on the links below:
🎥 https://bit.ly/2fg5SDD   
📊 https://bit.ly/2qViIgk