JOHNSTOWN, Pa. –The West Liberty University women's basketball team overcame a 13-point second-half deficit but couldn't find the basket over the final 5 minutes here Thursday night as resurgent Pitt-Johnstown pulled out a 69-63 win at the UPJ Sports Center.

The Hilltoppers (12-10, 9-7) spent the entire second half on the comeback trail as the Mountain Cats (11-10, 9-8) used a 14-0 run late in the opening half to grab a 40-29 lead at intermission.

The hosts seemed well in command with a 54-41 lead as the clock ticked past the 12-minute mark only to see West Liberty pick up the pace at both ends of the court.

Emily Blevins capped a 19-5 Hilltopper run when she cashed in a feed from Kayla Ayers for a 60-59 West Liberty lead with 5:38 remaining.

Kelsey Sleighter stopped the bleeding for Pitt-Johnstown with a 3-pointer but the Hilltoppers went right back on top when Bri Kamarec came up with a steal and drained her second 3-pointer in a 90-second span.

That made it 63-62 West Liberty with just under 5 minutes to play but the Black and Gold never scored again.

Stellar freshman Kaitlynn Fratz put UPJ ahead to stay, 64-63, when she followed in her own miss at the 4:27 mark and the Mountain Cats closed out the game on a 7-0 run for their 6th win in the last 7 games and 11th in their last 14.

Blevins had 18 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to lead West Liberty while Ayers and Jenn Cessna added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Fratz, the leading freshman scorer in the nation at 18.1 ppg., helped her average with 21 points for Pitt-Johnstown while Sara Trimarco scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half to take game scoring honors.

West Liberty will be idle on Saturday before returning home to host Alderson-Broaddus on Monday. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at the ASRC.