by Casey Burinskas

AURORA, N.Y. – On Saturday, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team took on Wells College to compete for their fourth conference victory, which they were able to pull out with an exceptional win of 88-21.

Penn State Altoona (6-3, 4-0 AMCC) set a new program record for the fewest points allowed in a game, surrendering just 21 to the Express (0-7, 0-4 AMCC). The Lions' previous record was 25 points allowed, which came against Hilbert College on January 24, 2009.

Penn State Altoona also finished the game with the second-most rebounds in a game in program history, grabbing 66 boards as a team. The Lions' 12 three-pointers made tied for the fourth-most in a game, and their 37 field goals made tied for the sixth-most.

The Lions' Sydney Barnett (Suwanee, GA/North Gwinnett) held the highest scoring total of the game with 13 points while adding three assists and two rebounds. Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) held a total of 12 points, as did Lexi Colaianni (Pittsburgh, PA/Kiski Area), who played in her first conference game of the season. McCracken added three steals and three rebounds, and Colaianni had three steals, three rebounds, and two assists.

Angelina Medina (North Port, FL/North Port) also played her first game of the season and added 11 points, coming with three assists and four steals. Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) also put 11 points on the board.

Abby Crossman (Lilly, PA/Penn Cambria) finished with a game-high 14 rebounds for the Lions, while Rakaya Cooper (East Orange, NJ/East Orange) had eight rebounds and Infiniti Lewis (Richmond, VA/J.R. Tucker) grabbed seven rebounds.

The Lions came out strong to start off the first quarter, opening on a 10-0 run, with eight of those points being made by McCracken. At 5:20, Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) was able to put up two points, helping bring the Lions to a 12-2 lead. Sarah Huston (Coatesville, PA/Coatesville) put up a layup, followed by a three-pointer made by Jordan Bisignani (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township). After a Cooper jump shot, a final layup made by Sayles with an assist from Bisignani helped the Lions pull far ahead, ending the first quarter with a score of 23-5.

The second quarter started with a layup made by Medina. Points continued to fall in with a trio of three-pointers made by Burns to make the score 38-12, Altoona, and Barnett was able to put up a three-pointer for the Lions to make it 41-14 with 43 seconds on the clock. With only 22 seconds left in the half, a steal from Colaianni gave Altoona the chance to score once more in the quarter. With the assist from Colaianni, Burns was able to make a layup that gave the Lions a 43-14 lead at the end of the second quarter.

Coming back after the half, the Lions continued to give up very few points, allowing Wells to score only three during the third quarter. A steal from Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) early in the period led to her basket at the other end of the floor, followed by another steal from Huston which led to a layup by Sayles that added another two, bringing the score to 47-14. With the clock sitting at 7:52 McCracken put up two more layups, followed by four points coming in from Medina. With 46 seconds left, Colaianni made a three-point jump shot to bring the final score of the quarter to 68-17, Lions.

The fourth quarter scoring started with a layup from Colaianni, followed by three-pointers from Colaianni and Medina to add six more points to the board, leaving the score at 76-17 at 8:23. Baskets by Crossman and Lewis helped the Lions to a 61-point lead over Wells, 80-19. Barnett's three-pointer and free throw with 1:12 left increased Penn State Altoona's advantage to 67, and the Lions pulled off a strong 88-21 win for their fourth AMCC victory of the season.

Next week, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team returns to non-conference play, as the Lions will travel to face Keuka College next Saturday, December 16 at 4 p.m.