JOHNSTOWN — Monae Baker scored a career-high

38 points, including 14 in the first half, to help the Pitt-Johnstown women build a 15-point lead on their way to a 77-63 victory over WVIAC foe West Liberty University on Tuesday night in the Sports Center.

The Lady Cats made it two straight wins and improved to 3-3 overall and

1-1 in conference play.

“My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball and feeding me down low,” said Baker, a sophomore center. “I was having fun out there.”

UPJ jumped on the Hilltoppers and took control early. Baker scored

14 points and Sheena Aden added

10 points in the first 13 minutes to help the Lady Cats run out to a 29-14 lead.

“They were ranked first (by WVIAC coaches in the preseason poll) and we had lost a couple games we shouldn’t have,” Baker said of West Liberty. “My team and I, we came out with a high energy. We felt we had to get this win and knock this team down. That’s what we did.”

A pair of free throws by Kayla Akers made it 29-16, before Maria Montini’s 3-pointer from the corner gave UPJ its largest lead of the half at 32-16 with 3:45 remaining.

However, the Hilltoppers scored the next eight points, capped by Tori Hansen’s back-to-back lay-ups, to cut the deficit in half with 59 seconds left.

Baker’s basket with :02 left stopped the run and gave the Lady Cats a 34-24 halftime advantage.

West Liberty battled back to pull within 52-48 midway through the second half, but a 3-pointer from Baker and two free throws from Aden pushed the lead back out to 13 with just under six minutes to play. A minute later, Sara Trimarco connected on a free throw to give the Lady Cats their largest lead of the second half at 67-52.

The Hilltoppers never got the deficit under 10 points the rest of the way. UPJ sealed the victory by hitting 7-of-7 from the free-throw line, including 6-of-6 from Trimarco, down the stretch.

Baker finished the night shooting an impressive 16-of-22 from the field, 2-of-2 from 3-point range and 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. Baker also pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.

Aden was the only other Lady Cat to score in double-figures. She ended with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Trimarco had nine points and four assists, while Andrea Dalton and Aden each had five rebounds. Qiuana Brown had four rebounds and dished out a game-high seven assists, and Kelly Goode chipped in five rebounds and six assists.

“It’s a big win. We needed this win,” Baker said. “West Liberty had knocked down teams that we had lost to in the past. We’re excited about this win. We’re going to use this win and feed off of it for the next upcoming games.”

Hansen, who eclipsed the 1,000 career-point mark in the first half, led West Liberty with 27 points.

Jenni Robbins had 18 points and five assists for the Hilltoppers, who dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the WVIAC.

The Lady Cats travel to Slippery Rock for a nonconference game on Tuesday, before finishing the first semester with a WVIAC game against Salem International on

Dec. 10 at the Sports Center.

“We work really hard. Things are falling in place slowly but they’re coming,” Baker said.

“The coaching staff has done really well. They’ve been getting on us, staying on us and we’ve been working really, really hard.”

UPJ men dealt 81-69 loss

Patrick Grubbs scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for coach Bob Rukavina’s Mountain Cats, but it wasn’t enough as West Liberty remained unbeaten with an 81-69 WVIAC victory over Pitt-Johnstown Tuesday night in the Sports Center.

The Mountain Cats dropped to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in league play.

Andy Byer hit a 3-pointer to put the Mountain Cats up 16-12 five minutes into the game. In a tight first half, West Liberty countered and outscored UPJ 23-12 over the next 10 minutes to build a 35-28 lead with 4:35 remaining in the half.

After Danny Branch connected on a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 35-32, Corey Pelle’s 3-pointer and two free throws from Mike Mathey helped the Hilltoppers open up their largest lead of the first half at 40-32 at the 3:09 mark.

The Mountain Cats kept it close, and Byer’s third 3-pointer of the half with :35 left pulled UPJ to within 41-37 at halftime.

UPJ battled all the way back to regain the lead at 46-45 on Grubbs’ lay-up and free throw at 16:42.

Another basket by Grubbs knotted the score at 48, before the Hilltoppers used a 23-10 run to rebuild the lead to 71-58 with 7:47 to play. The Mountain Cats answered again. Nick Novak’s lay-up ended a 9-0 UPJ run to cut it to 71-67 at 4:43, but it never got any closer. West Liberty outscored the Mountain Cats 10-2 the rest of the way to earn the 12-point win.

Grubbs led a balanced Mountain Cat attack that saw five UPJ players score in double-figures with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Novak had 14 points and five assists, while Branch scored 13 points, including three 3-pointers, and pulled down six rebounds. Byer had 11 points, four rebounds and five assists, and Rudy Roberts chipped in 10 points and five rebounds off the bench.

Pelle’s game-high 25 points led the way for West Liberty.

Barry Shetzer (14 points), Mike Mathey

(13 points) and Alex Falk (11 points) also scored in double-figures, while John Wolosinczuk grabbed 15 rebounds for the Hilltoppers, who improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the WVIAC.

The Mountain Cats host a WVIAC game against Salem International on Saturday and a nonconference game against Clarion on Monday.