Lions Get Past Wildcats to Win Home Opener
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team pulled out a victory in its home opener on Saturday afternoon, when the Lions defeated non-conference foe Penn College 69-63 in the Adler Arena.
Penn State Altoona (2-4) worked its way out to a 10-point advantage by halftime, but Penn College (1-6) made up some ground in the third quarter and eventually seized the lead midway through the fourth. But the Lions jumped back on top and successfully closed out the game to seal the win.
Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) led Penn State Altoona in scoring with 21 points to go along with six rebounds, three blocks, and three assists. Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) secured a season-high 15 rebounds while scoring 10 points.
Jordan Bisignani (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township) scored 19 for the Lions while adding five rebounds and a game-high five assists, and Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) had 11 points, eight rebounds, a game-best four steals, and two assists. Madison Rusnica (DuBois, PA/DuBois) chipped in six rebounds, five points, two assists, and two blocks, and Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) had three points and two assists.
Penn College's Gigi Parlante led all players in points and rebounds, finishing with 26 points and 16 boards. Emily Pardee and Rachel Teats scored 16 and 10, respectively, for the Wildcats.
Penn State Altoona had a strong start to its first home game of the year, outscoring Penn College 19-10 in the opening quarter. With the score tied 4-4, McCracken made a layup and hit two three-pointers to help the Lions to a 12-5 advantage. Sayles added a free throw and jump shot, Bisignani drained a pair of foul shots, and Rusnica hit a jumper to propel Penn State Altoona to a nine-point lead by the quarter's end.
The Lions started the second quarter by outscoring the Wildcats 10-2 over the first three minutes, getting two-point buckets from Sayles and Green and three-pointes from Rusnica and McCracken. Burns hit a three-pointer at 6:29 to make it 32-14, but Penn College used a 10-2 run to make it a 10-point game by halftime. Parlante scored two layups to cut Penn State Altoona's lead to 34-24 by the 1:54 mark, ultimately closing the scoring for the half.
Penn College outscored the Lions 22-17 during the third quarter to close the gap to five points by end of the period. Bisignani hit a three-pointer at the 3:46 mark to put Penn State Altoona ahead by 11 points, 49-38, but the Wildcats closed the quarter on an 8-2 run, capped by back-to-back jumpers from Teats that narrowed the Lions' advantage to 51-46.
The Wildcats scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, tying the game 51-51 on Pardee's layup two minutes in. Parlante's layup and free throw at 5:35 made it a one-point game, and Pardee's basket at 4:46 gave Penn College its first lead, 56-55, since the early stages of the first quarter. Another Pardee layup tied the score at 58-58 with 2:26 remaining.
After that, Penn State Altoona regrouped and got back in front. Baskets from Bisignani and Sayles preceded three foul shots by Bisignani that put the Lions up 65-58 by the 41-second mark. Penn College picked up five points from Parlante and Pardee, but Sayles and Bisignani each made a pair of foul shots to help the Lions ice the win, 69-63.
Next up, Penn State Altoona women's basketball gets its Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schedule underway on Tuesday, November 26. The Lions travel to nearby Cresson, where they will face league rival Mount Aloysius College in a game starting at 7:30 p.m.
