Alfred Holds Off Lions, 68-59
by Casey Burinskas
ALTOONA, Pa. – On Saturday afternoon, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped by non-conference opponent Alfred University, as the Saxons prevailed 68-59 in the Adler Arena.
Alfred (6-2) led by 19 points early in the fourth quarter, then held off a Penn State Altoona (6-5) rally to deal the Lions the loss.
Penn State Altoona's Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) and Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) tied for the game high in points, scoring 20 apiece. Sayles clinched her fourth double-double of the season by grabbing a game-best 10 rebounds, and she also led all players in the contest with six steals and three blocks. McCracken contributed four rebounds and two assists.
Jordan Bisignani (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township) added nine points, four rebounds, three steals, and a pair of helpers. Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) had seven points, five rebounds, and three assists. Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) grabbed seven boards.
Jessica Beehler, Jaidyn Chest, and Grace Rittenhouse each scored 16 points for Alfred.
In the first quarter, Burns was first to put up points for the Lions with a layup. Sayles then made a jump shot, and an Alfred foul on a three-point attempt led to Burns making all three of her tries to give the Lions an early lead of 7-2. McCracken and Sayles followed with jumpers to give Altoona an 11-4 advantage, and Bisignani had a jump shot later in the quarter to make it 13-8. Sayles came up with a steal late in the period, then converted it into points on a jump shot, but Alfred worked its way to a 21-15 lead by the end of the quarter.
Alfred scored seven points to start the second quarter, before Altoona's first points came at 4:31 on a jump shot from McCracken. McCracken then made a three-pointer, followed by Sayles coming in to make a jump shot to leave the score at 28-22, with the Lions still trailing. Bisignani made a free throw to end the scoring in the quarter, and Altoona trailed by five, 28-23, at the half.
Coming out of the half, McCracken was first to strike for Altoona with a layup, before Sayles made a jump shot. McCracken was then back with the ball and made a three-pointer for the Lions to cut the Alfred lead to 32-30. Nearing the four-minute mark, McCracken made a free throw and a layup to close the gap with Alfred, 39-35. But the Saxons ended the quarter on a 13-0 run, and the Lions trailed 52-35.
Starting the final quarter in a race to catch up, Sayles planted the first two points on foul shots. Later, Allyana Stephens (Johnstown, PA/Bishop McCort) entered the game and made a three-pointer to make it a 14-point game, 60-46, at 5:16. Just over two minutes later, Bisignani made a three-pointer, before another successful steal by Sayles led to McCracken scoring a layup to make it 60-51. Bisignani made a quick layup at 1:11 to lower the Alfred lead to just eight, 62-54. But, after two final free throws from Sayles, the game closed with a loss for Altoona, who ended up falling by nine points by a score of 68-59.
Next up, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team will open the new year with a home game on Saturday, January 4, facing non-conference opponent Messiah University at 1 p.m.
