ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona women's basketball posted one of its strongest wins of the season on Wednesday night, when the Lady Lions knocked off first place Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference foe La Roche University 91-76 in the Adler Arena.

For Penn State Altoona (10-5, 8-3 AMCC), the win was the team's first against La Roche (11-5, 11-1 AMCC) since February 10, 2018. Wednesday's result represented La Roche's first AMCC loss of the season, and it snapped a 16-game regular season conference win streak for the Lady Redhawks.

The Lady Lions' victory was made possible by one of the team's most complete performances of the season. Penn State Altoona outshot La Roche from the field overall (48.6 to 42.9 percent), from three-point range (50.0 to 31.8 percent), and at the free throw line (72.7 to 68.2 percent). The Lady Lions also won the turnover battle by a significant margin, committing 13 turnovers to La Roche's 25.

"We played as a team, and we played really good team defense. Our team energy was at an all-time high, which created lots of momentum for us," said Penn State Altoona assistant coach John Nardozza, who took the lead on the team's bench for an ailing head coach Casey Wilt. "We got out and we ran the floor really well tonight."

Alexis Cannistraci (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) led all scorers with 28 points, mirroring her point total against La Roche in the teams' first matchup of the season on November 26. She made a game-high 12 field goals, going 12-for-21 from the field, and she also finished with eight rebounds, two assists, and tied for the team-high in blocks with two.

Finnley Christine (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) scored 25 points for her second-highest point total of the season, and she also dished out a career-high eight assists while grabbing seven rebounds. Christine connected on 9-of-16 shots from the field, including going 2-for-2 from three-point range.

Sydney Snyder (New Enterprise, PA/Northern Bedford) added 18 points, six rebounds, and two assists. Kaley Strittmatter (Williamsburg, PA/Penn Cambria) totaled nine points, three rebounds, and two steals. Paige Burk (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg) tied for the team lead in rebounds with eight, led all players in the game with five steals, tied for the team-high in blocks with two, and also recorded five points and three assists.

"One play that stands out is when Sydney made a great steal and assisted with a great behind-the-back pass to her teammate for a layup. Kaley played phenomenal defense on one of their top scorers [Dasja Anderson] and held her to eight points. That's huge," said Nardozza. "Lex and Finn led our offense the whole game. Paige played a huge part in rebounding and defense for us, as well."

La Roche got 18 points from Danajah Sanders, while Jenna Cole finished with 17 points and Ayanna Mazyck scored 14 points.

With the score tied 9-9 midway through the first quarter, La Roche finished the period on an 8-2 run to secure a 17-11 lead. Two layups from Anderson, as well as baskets by Dasha Jackson and Mazyck, accounted for the visitors' points during that stretch.

Penn State Altoona kept things close in the second quarter, however, winning the period by two points. Layups from Cannistraci and Snyder tied the score 24-24 halfway through the quarter, and Christine's layup at 4:53 gave Penn State Altoona a two-point lead. La Roche reclaimed the lead, but the Lady Lions stayed within striking distance the rest of the way. Two Strittmatter foul shots and a bucket by Kassidy Sorichetti (Halifax, PA/Halifax) kept the Lady Redhawks' lead at just one point, 37-36, in the latter stages of the period.

Within the final 35 seconds of the half, La Roche got a free throw from Jackson and layup by Machia Hairston, while Penn State Altoona picked up points on a pair of Christine free throws. La Roche went into halftime with a 42-38 lead.

Penn State Altoona worked its way in front during a high-scoring third quarter, in which the Lady Lions scored 34 points and both teams combined for 56 points. Penn State Altoona started the period on a 6-0 run, as baskets from Cannistraci, Christine, and Burk gave the home team a 44-42 lead.

La Roche took the lead back briefly, helped by seven consecutive points from Cole that gave the Lady Redhawks a 49-45 advantage by 6:45.

But Penn State Altoona reeled off a game-changing 25-6 run over the next five minutes to overtake La Roche's lead and nab a 15-point advantage. That run included 10 points from Snyder, six from Cannistraci, and five from Christine, and it was capped by a pair of free throws at 1:32 from Snyder that put her team up 70-55.

Leading 72-64 by the start of the fourth quarter, Penn State Altoona protected its lead by winning the game's final period by a 19-12 margin. Cannistraci's jump shot at 7:36 kept her team's advantage at 10 points, 75-65, and baskets from Christine and Cannistraci made it 81-69 by the 5:33 mark. Later, Cannistraci hit a shot from beyond the arc and Snyder made a layup to put their team's lead at 13 points, and Cannistraci converted on a three-point play at the 50-second mark to make it 89-74. A foul shot each from Christine and Burk finished off the Lady Lions' point total for the game.

Penn State Altoona finished the night with strong statistical advantages over La Roche in points off turnovers (34-7), points in the paint (54-34), second chance points (21-12), and fastbreak points (8-2).

"We played really well as a team tonight, and we played well in all phases of the game," Nardozza stated. "I'm extremely proud of the girls and how well they played tonight."

For its next game, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team will again return to the road, as the Lady Lions travel to Buffalo this Saturday, January 25 to face AMCC opponent D'Youville College at 3:00 p.m.