Women’s Basketball’s Win Streak Ends in Loss to Behrend
by McKenzie Quirin
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team returned home Saturday afternoon, and the Lions had their four-game win streak snapped in a 71-61 loss to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Penn State Behrend at Adler Arena.
Penn State Altoona (13-10, 10-6 AMCC) trailed early, as Penn State Behrend (16-7, 14-2 AMCC) took a 9-0 lead in the first 2:46 of the game. The Lions kept a close score throughout the rest of the quarters, even leading 32-31 going into halftime. But Behrend outscored the home team 40-29 in the second half to win by 10.
Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) led the Lions in their loss with 17 points to go along with three rebounds, and Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) ended the day scoring 12 points while adding eight rebounds. Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) led all players in the game in rebounds, grabbing 14 to tie her season-high total.
For Penn State Behrend, Rachel Majewski scored 25 of the team's 71 points while adding three rebounds, two assists and three steals. Three other Behrend Lions ended their victory with double-digit points: Morgan Altavilla with 17 points, Madilyn Boyer with 14 points and Alexis Furyes with 10 points.
In the first quarter, the Lions were held without a point until Green's layup got Penn State Altoona on the board at 7:14. Quickly after, a Sayles jump shot cut the Lions' deficit to five, 9-4.
Layups from Altavilla and Majewski in the next couple of minutes increased the Behrend Lions' lead to 13-4, adding four points. The first three-pointer of the game came from Penn State Altoona's McCracken, who connected from beyond the arc at 4:37 to make it 13-7. Later, McCracken put in a jump shot and a free throw to close in on Penn State Behrend's lead, 13-10, but the visitors finished the first quarter up by six, 22-16.
Majewski's layup continued Penn State Behrend's scoring to start the second quarter, adding two points to their lead. With Behrend in front by nine, 29-20, McCracken's second three-pointer of the half got Penn State Altoona closer to the visitors' lead, 29-23. Another big three-pointer from McCracken cut the Lions' deficit further, as they trailed 31-28 with just under five minutes left until the half. 2:39 went by before Penn State Altoona set up a huge layup from Sayles to put the home team down by just a point, 31-30. Emily Munson (New Hartford, CT/Northwestern Regional) positioned for a layup that allowed the Lions to take the lead as the buzzer sounded to end the quarter, and Penn State Altoona headed into halftime up 32-31.
Boyer made a layup to start the third quarter to get Penn State Behrend ahead by one, but a layup from Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) and a free throw from Sayles put the Lions up by two, 35-33. Boyer tied the score up at 35 from another layup, and Penn State Behrend jumped back in front on an Altavilla three-pointer, making it 38-35. After a 30-second timeout, Green managed to close in on the Behrend Lions' lead, cutting it to one with a layup. Jordan Bisignani (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township) made a three-pointer for Penn State Altoona at 2:06, but the visitors outscored Penn State Altoona 16-5 over the final 6:48 of the quarter, taking a 54-42 advantage into the game's last frame.
Majewski added a jump shot to begin the fourth quarter, as Penn State Behrend increased the score to 56-42. Penn State Altoona answered with a layup from McCracken, but Behrend upped its advantage to 61-44 by 8:13. Penn State Altoona's offense did not quiet down, as the Lions outscored Penn State Behrend 19-17 throughout the fourth quarter, but Behrend maintained a double-digit lead throughout the period, winning 71-61.
Next up, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team heads back on the road to compete in their second-to-last game of the regular season against AMCC opponent Pitt-Bradford on Wednesday, February 14 at 7 p.m.
