PITTSBURGH – First-year coach D’wan Shackleford Vickroy’s young Pitt-Johnstown women’s basketball team got the feel and experience of big-time Division I college basketball Wednesday with a trip to Petersen Events Center and an exhibition game against the University of Pittsburgh.
Pitt-Johnstown’s Hayden Keith scored a team-high 11 points, and Chestnut Ridge graduate Belle Bosch added nine points and six rebounds, but the Panthers from the Atlantic Coast Conference proved to be too strong and closed out the evening with a 106-37 victory.
Keith finished with 11 points on 3 of 5 shooting from behind the arc and 2 of 2 from the foul line. Bosch hit four of her nine shots from the field to lead Pitt-Johnstown. Camille Dominic scored six points, while Liv West tallied four points and five boards. M’laya Ainsworth grabbed a team-high eight boards. Bishop McCort Catholic graduate Gianna Gallucci made two free throws for two points.
Pitt got off to a quick start and used six points each from Amiya Jenkins and Khadija Faye to jump out to a 13-0 lead. Keith knocked down a pair of free throws and Lexi Margolis hit a 3-pointer to get Pitt-Johnstown on the board midway through the opening quarter.
Keith then scored five of her eight first-half points to help Pitt-Johnstown play even with the Panthers to begin the second quarter, but Pitt outscored the Mountain Cats 21-2 over the final 7:51 to build a 51-17 halftime advantage.
Pitt continued to flex its muscles and extend the lead in the second half and coasted to the win.
Jenkins poured in a game-high 26 points and Faye collected a double-double of 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds to pace five Panthers who scored in double figures.
Prior to Wednesday’s exhibition game, a group of Pitt-Johnstown basketball alumni, coaches and dignitaries gathered at the Baseline Club inside Peterson Events Center.
Pitt-Johnstown will visit Division I Binghamton University for an exhibition game Monday, before opening the 2024-25 season against West Virginia Wesleyan and Frostburg State at the Jim Crawley Conference Challenge Nov. 8 and 9 in Frostburg, Maryland.
