by Casey Burinskas

PITTSBURGH – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team finished its regular season schedule on the road Saturday against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche University, and the Lions were dealt a 74-48 loss by the Redhawks.

Penn State Altoona (12-13, 9-7 AMCC) got out to a 15-9 lead by the end of the first quarter, and the Lions were down by only three points, 29-26, at the half. But La Roche (20-5, 14-2 AMCC) broke the game open in the second half, when it outscored Penn State Altoona 45-22.

Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) scored a team-high 12 points for Penn State Altoona. Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) added seven points and seven rebounds, and Avana Saynes (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) and Madison Rusnica (DuBois, PA/DuBois) contributed six points apiece. Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while chipping in five points.

La Roche was led in scoring by Makayla Abram, who finished with 22 points. Alexis Robison scored 13 for the Redhawks, and Dasja Anderson had 11.

In the first quarter, Sayles made a jump shot with an assist from Rusnica that put the Lions on the board first. McCracken was next to sink a three-pointer, followed by Burns and Halle Kuzminski (Warren, PA/Warren) making layups. Kuzminski, back in the game late in the quarter, found her way for another jump shot, and Rakaya Cooper (East Orange, NJ/East Orange) was seconds behind with a layup for the Lions. Closing out a quiet first quarter, the Lions held the lead by a score of 15-9. 

Into the second quarter, Rusnica scored her first points when she landed a three-pointer. Following in her footsteps, Burns turned around and found the basket to put in a three-pointer to now have the Lions up by nine, 21-12. Green, making her first points of the game, secured a free throw, followed by Burns making a jump shot with 5:24 left in the half. McCracken down the court scored a layup, and with that, the second quarter ended with Altoona now trailing La Roche by three by a score of 29-26.  

Coming out of the half, Rusnica made a three-pointer to tie up the game early. Sayles made a jump shot with an assist from Burns that preceded Skylar McCall (Cleveland Heights, OH/Cleveland Heights) making a jump shot with three-and-a-half minutes left. Closing the gap to 10, 47-37, McCall made a layup, and a foul against La Roche gave Green two free throws. Burns found the net for another three-pointer, and Green sank two free throws, but Altoona ended the quarter behind 51-44, trailing La Roche going into the fourth.

In the last quarter, Cooper made a layup late in the game with only 4:28 left for the Lions' first points of the period, and Altoona was trailing by 17 points, 63-46. Burns made a layup later, and with those two baskets being the only points for the Lions in the quarter, Altoona was dealt a harsh loss by a final score of 74-48.

Next, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team will enter the AMCC Tournament. The Lions have the number four seed in the playoffs and will host a home game against number five seed Alfred State College in Adler Arena on Tuesday, February 25, at 8 p.m.