by McKenzie Quirin

ALTOONA, Pa. – On Saturday afternoon, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team hosted its final game of the regular season at Adler Arena against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche University, and the Lions were dealt an 89-64 loss.

Penn State Altoona (14-11, 11-7 AMCC) trailed early, as La Roche (20-4, 17-0 AMCC) took a 6-0 lead in the first minute of the game. The Lions managed to tie the score up at 18 after one quarter of play, but La Roche posted a lopsided 29-12 scoring advantage during the second quarter, and the Redhawks outscored the home team 42-34 in the second half to win by 25.

Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) led the Lions in their loss with a game-high 23 points to go along with 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season, and she added three assists and two blocks. Jordan Bisignani (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township) ended the day with 12 points with two rebounds, three assists and one steal, while Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) added 11 points, four rebounds, a game-leading seven assists and one steal.

For La Roche, Dasja Anderson scored 20 out of the team's 89 points while adding five rebounds and four assists. Machia Hairston ended the afternoon with 19 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block, and Alexis Robison put up 11 points, two rebounds, one assist and one block.

In the first quarter, the Lions were held without a point until McCracken's three-pointer got Penn State Altoona on the board at 8:36, and a Sayles layup and foul shot tied the score at six.

A pair of free throws from Makayla Abram 12 seconds later put the Redhawks up 8-6. Bisignani tied the game up at eight after a quick layup, but Anderson put in La Roche's first three-pointer of the day 16 seconds later to get the lead back, now up 11-8. Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) tied the game up at 11, as she put in her first three-pointer on the day. Sayles made a jump shot that gave the Lions a 13-11 lead, but the Redhawks tied the score back up at 13 right after on an Anderson layup. McCracken's second three-pointer put Penn State Altoona back on top, but in a back-and-forth finish, the score was tied at 18 by the end of the first quarter after a pair of Bisignani free throws.

Anderson's layup continued La Roche's scoring to start the second quarter, adding two points and breaking the 18-18 tie. Hairston added two more points to the Redhawks' total, as they now took a 22-18 lead, but Sayles quickly put in two to cut the Lions' deficit to two. For the next minute, it was all La Roche, as they managed to add five points to increase their lead to 27-20. McCracken got in a layup to cut Penn State Altoona's deficit to five, but the Redhawks put in a layup to add two more points to their lead shortly after. The game remained at 29-22 until Angelina Cortazzo made a jump shot at 4:38 to give La Roche the next set of points, as they led 31-22. A pair of Bisignani free throws and two Sayles jump shots and a layup were no match for the Redhawks, as the visitors went into halftime up 47-30.

Robison made a three-pointer to start the third quarter to get La Roche ahead by 20, and another three-pointer from Jazmine Dunn made it 53-30. Burns' made her second three-pointer of the game as the Lions remained down, 53-33. With more back-and-forth play, the Redhawks came out on top from two more three-pointers and a pair of free throws to build a large-margined lead of 61-35. Despite some baskets over the rest of the period, Penn State Altoona continued to trail La Roche by the end of the third quarter, 68-49.

Sayles made a layup to begin the fourth quarter, as the Lions cut their deficit to 17. Although the Redhawks made a layup to get to the 70-point mark, Penn State Altoona did not give up and put on a quick six points, down 71-57. La Roche's offense would not quit, as they added five points to their lead, making it 76-57 at the 6:11 mark. A Bisignani three-pointer got the Lions within 16, 76-60. Infiniti Lewis' (Richmond, VA/J.R. Tucker) layup and Chelsea McCaulsky's (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) jump shot combined for the last four points Penn State Altoona scored in the final 1:10 of the game. The Redhawks ended with an 89-64 victory, after a three-pointer from Hannah Calderaro to finish the game up.

Now, Penn State Altoona women's basketball will prepare for AMCC postseason play. The Lions are the number three seed in the AMCC Tournament and will host sixth-seeded Pitt-Bradford in a first-round game in Adler Arena on Tuesday, February 20 at 7 p.m.