WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Mounties used efficient offense and stealth defense to build a 18-point first-half advantage, but West Chester University was able to flip the script in the second half to steal a 74-63 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) victory at home on Monday night, Feb. 7.
 
The Mounties built a 35-23 advantage in the first half, but West Chester surpassed their entire point total from the first half in the second quarter, outscoring the Mounties 28-14 in the third period, while continuing that effort in the final quarter (23-14) to put the Mounties away.
 
The Mounties fall to 6-14 overall and 5-11 in the PSAC, while the Golden Rams improve to 7-13 overall and 5-9 in conference.
 
Sophomore Logan Nutt continued her hot stretch as-of-late, finishing with a team-high 16 points, pulling in six rebounds and dishing out two assists. Junior Alivia Paeglow was productive again off the bench, scoring 11 points and grabbing four rebounds. Senior Paige Whitfield registered eight points, six rebounds, four steals and five assists, while Emily Leidig knocked down three shots from deep for nine points.
 
The Mounties jumped out to an early 13-point lead through the first half thanks to strong shooting (48 percent) and lockdown defense, holding West Chester to 23 points on 24 percent (7-of-29) shooting.
 
However, the Golden Rams erased an 18-point deficit from the second period, outscoring the Mounties 28-14 thanks for 63 percent shooting (12-of-19).
 
West Chester continued to keep the Mounties at bay to close out the victory, outscoring MU 23-14 in the fourth quarter, shooting over 50 percent from the floor and taking advantage of eight Mountaineer turnovers.
 
West Chester opened the final period with a trifecta, but MU scored seven straight off points in the paint from Merritt, Whitfield and junior Jasmine Hilton to regain the lead, 55-54 with 7:43 to go.
 
However, WCU outscored the Mounties, 20-10 the rest of the way to close out the come-from-behind victory.
 
In the first half, the Golden Rams scored the first basket of the contest at the 8:53 mark, but senior Kira Merritt answered on the next MU possession to spark a 15-6 run to close out the first quarter. Paeglow came off the bench to lead the second unit with four points during the run.
 
The second quarter was much of the same for the Mounties, as they outscored WCU, 20-15 to extend their first-half lead. The Mounties shot an outstanding 8-of-14 from the floor, while forcing five Golden Rams' turnovers and limiting them to five field goals.
 
Leah Johnson was on fire for West Chester, finishing the game with a team-high 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting, including drilling a game-high five trifectas. Johnson went 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, while hauling in nine rebounds and plucking six steals.
 
The Mounties travel to Lock Haven University on Wednesday, Feb. 9 for a 5:30 p.m. PSAC contest.