Published: November 23, 2009 08:50 am      

Lady Cats fall to Lake Erie in Classic

JOHNSTOWN — Alyssa Wagers scored 21 points, including the free throw that put her team ahead for good, in Lake Erie’s 59-54 victory over host Pitt-Johnstown in the Lady Cat Classic on Sunday.

Wagers, who had a double-double in Saturday’s victory over Slippery Rock, was named the tournament MVP.

Her free throw with 1:41 remaining on Sunday gave the Storm a 54-53 lead, and Lake Erie (2-2) held off UPJ (1-2).

Stephanie Rogers had 18 points and nine rebounds and was named to the all-tournament team.

UPJ’s Sheena Aden had 14 points and seven rebounds in the loss and was named to the all-tournament team.

Andrea Dalton also had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Cats.

Aden scored UPJ’s first five points, before Sara Tirmarco’s 3-pointer 3:12 into the game gave Pitt-Johnstown an 8-7 lead. Lake Erie used an 11-3 run over the next 7:37, capped by Rogers’ layup, giving the Storm an 18-11 advantage. UPJ answered to pull within a point at 18-17 with six minutes remaining in the half on Dalton’s basket. After Lake Erie pushed the lead to 24-17 with 3:33 left, the Lady Cats closed out the half on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to

24-22, despite shooting just 26.5 percent.

Rogers’ basket 6:35 into the second half gave Lake Erie its largest lead of the game at 38-30. UPJ got 10 points from Dalton to highlight a 16-1 run over the next six minutes to give the Lady Cats a 46-39 lead with 7:36 remaining. Once again, the Storm battled back to tie the score at 48 on Wagers’ free throw at 4:38 mark. The teams exchanged the lead three more times, before another Wagers free throw gave Lake Erie the lead for good.

All-tournament team pick Nikki Presto helped lead Slippery Rock (1-3) to a 60-47 victory over Georgian Court (1-2) in the opener. Georgian Court’s Christina White had 10 points and

12 rebounds on her way to being named to the all-tournament team.