MANSFIELD – Junior Alivia Paeglow scored a career-high 22 points and junior Jasmine Hilton pulled in a game-high 17 rebounds to give the Mansfield University women's basketball team a chance to keep their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) postseason hopes alive into the closing seconds, but Shepherd University held on to escape Decker Gymnasium with a 68-65 victory on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 26.

The Mountaineers finish the 2021-22 season at 7-19 overall and 6-16 in the PSAC, improving their conference record by five wins to narrowly miss the postseason by one game. Shepherd improves to 22-6 overall and 16-6 in the PSAC and will compete in the conference tournament as the fifth seed next week.

Prior to the start of the contest, the Mountaineer Athletic Department honored seniors Paige Whitfield, Sydney Reed, Kira Merritt and Hanna Johnson for their contributions and dedication to the women's basketball program and the university.

Paeglow shot 10-of-15 on her career night, while pulling in seven rebounds and notching a steal. Hilton was a beast on the glass, pulling in a career-high 17 rebounds (six offensive), while adding 13 points. Whitfield also scored 13 points and dished out four assists, while Merritt knocked down two trifectas on her way to eight points and grabbed six rebounds.

In the first half, Merritt drilled her first two attempts from three and Paeglow added a layup to put the Mounties up, 8-6 through the opening five minutes.

Shepherd scored four straight to regain the lead, but Whitfield drilled a three and Paeglow scored five points at the end of the quarter to give the Mounties an 18-12 lead after one.

The Rams knocked down their first two trifectas of the second quarter to outscore the Mounties, 12-8 through the opening six minutes to cut the MU advantage to 26-22 with 4:11 remaining in the half.

Nutt from Reed extended the Mountaineer lead back to six, 30-24, but four unanswered points from the Rams' cut the MU lead to two with a minute to go.

Whitfield drilled her third 3-pointer of the half to send the game to the break with the Mountaineers leading, 36-30. Whitfield and Paeglow each scored 11 points, while Whitfield and Merritt combined for five 3-pointers to lead the Mounties in the first half.

The Rams used a 9-0 run starting at the 7:16 mark in the third quarter to erase the Mountaineers' first-half lead and take their first lead since early in the first quarter.

However, Reed got into the 3-point fun, drilling her first of the game to regain the Mountaineer lead on the ensuing possession.

The remainder of the period featured four lead changes with Shepherd taking the final one to carry a 52-50 advantage into the fourth.

The Mounties cut the deficit to one twice to open the final period before going cold on offense to allow Shepherd to go back up, 59-55, out of the under-five media timeout.

Shepherd took their largest lead, 61-55 at the 3-minute mark, but Paeglow went on a 4-0 run of her own to cut the deficit back to two, 61-59. However, a layup and a free throw from Shepherd brought their lead back to five, 64-59 with 1:28 remaining.

Hilton went coast-to-coast after stealing a pass at mid-court to bring the Mounties back within three, with 47 seconds to go.

The Mounties were forced into foul mode from there on out and the Rams knocked down four of their final six attempts at the line to seal the victory. Paeglow each made field goals in the final 30 seconds, but the clock prevented the Mounties from sending the game into overtime.

The Rams shot a scorching 17-of-32 (53 percent) from late in the second quarter to the end of the third to claw back into the game and eventually take the lead. The Mounties were limited to five field goals in the third, while shooting 1-of-11 from three in the second half.

Shepherd's Sydney Clayton scored a game-high 32 points on 14-of-22 shots from the floor, while grabbing 10 rebounds to secure the double-double.

Saturday's contest concludes the regular season for the Mountaineers.