CRESSON, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team started its 2024-25 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference schedule with a victory on Tuesday night, when the Lions defeated nearby rival Mount Aloysius College 68-61 in the ACW Center.

Trailing by two at the half, Penn State Altoona (3-4, 1-0 AMCC) used a 26-17 scoring advantage in the third quarter to establish a solid lead over Mount Aloysius (3-2, 0-1 AMCC). The Lions forced the Mounties into 23 turnovers while committing just nine themselves.

The Lions' Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) tied the game-high in points, scoring 18 to go along with nine rebounds and two steals. Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) contributed 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two blocks.

Haley Hicks (Wylie, TX/Wylie East) provided eight points, five rebounds, and two blocks off the bench. Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) had nine rebounds, seven points, three assists, and two steals. Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette), Jordan Bisignani (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township), and Madison Rusnica (DuBois, PA/DuBois) added six points apiece.

Mount Aloysius got 18 points from Jade Love-Morris, 13 points from Molly Kosmack, and nine points from Angelina Kohlwaies.

The two teams found themselves deadlocked 13-13 by the conclusion of the opening quarter. After digging itself a 6-0 hole, Penn State Altoona got on the board with a Bisignani three-pointer at 7:56, and McCracken connected from beyond the arc at 7:02 to trim the Mounties' lead to one, 7-6. Sayles' jumper a minute later put Penn State Altoona up by one, 8-7, and Green converted a three-point play at 3:01 to give the Lions an 11-9 advantage. Mount Aloysius tied the game on a Kosmack basket, then went up by two on Molly Richards' jump shot. But Burns scored a layup with 1:28 left in the quarter to tie the score, and the teams headed into the second quarter even.

Rusnica hit a three-pointer just over two-and-a-half minutes into the second quarter to keep the score tied, 16-16, and two buckets apiece from Hicks and Green helped Penn State Altoona to a 24-22 advantage midway through the period. After Mount Aloysius worked back in front, 28-25, following a Hall three-pointer, Sayles drained a jump shot and Hicks made a layup to put the Lions up, 29-28, with 1:54 left in the half. The Mounties edged in front just before the buzzer, getting an Isaacs three-pointer with four seconds to go to take a 31-29 lead over Penn State Altoona into the intermission.

Penn State Altoona had its biggest offensive output of the night in the third quarter, when the Lions outscored Mount Aloysius 26-17. The visitors got early baskets from Sayles and McCracken, and a pair of McCracken three-pointers gave the Lions a 39-34 lead by 5:57. Sayles made two jump shots and two free throws to increase her team's lead to seven, 45-38, and Rusnica's three ball at 3:29 made it a nine-point game, 48-39. Mount Aloysius got back to within four, 51-47, late in the quarter, but the Lions tacked two McCracken foul shots on to their total and finished the quarter with a 55-48 advantage.

The teams broke even in the fourth quarter, with each squad scoring 13 points. Penn State Altoona scored the first five points of the quarter, as Sayles made a basket and a free throw and Burns added a layup. Three more points from Sayles and two foul shots by Burns put the Lions' lead at 65-52 halfway through the quarter, and Bisignani drilled a three-pointer at 3:28 to make it 68-52. Mount Aloysius chipped away at their deficit over the remainder of the quarter, but it was too little, too late for the Mounties, as the Lions finished the night with a seven-point win over their conference rival.

Penn State Altoona outscored Mount Aloysius in points off turnovers (19-4), second-chance points (15-12), and fastbreak points (10-2).

Penn State Altoona women's basketball continues its AMCC schedule on the road next Wednesday, December 4, when the Lions will head to Westmoreland County to take on conference foe Pitt-Greensburg at 7 p.m.