Women’s Basketball Victorious Against Pitt-Bradford
by Christina Roukas
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team defeated Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Pitt-Bradford on Saturday afternoon in the Adler Arena by a final score of 70-54.
The Lions (2-9, 1-4 AMCC) earned their second win of the season and first conference win with a strong performance over Pitt-Bradford (2-8, 0-2 AMCC).
In the first quarter of the game, the Panthers' Ashley Hall and Alex Ackerman started the period with three-pointers, putting Pitt-Bradford in a 6-0 lead. The Lions came back with a layup from senior Alexis Cannistraci (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) that got the home team on the scoreboard, 6-2. With five minutes left in the quarter, Lions junior Emma Kitko (Houtzdale, PA/Moshannon Valley) hit a three-pointer, lowering the deficit to five points, 10-5. The first quarter ended with the Lions down by five, 18-13.
In the second quarter, the Lions made a strong comeback while playing great defense, holding Pitt-Bradford to only seven points scored in the period. Jordan Bisignani (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) scored an early basket, making the score 20-15, and Ellie Matthews (Kennett Square, PA/Kennett) hit a jump shot to narrow the score to 21-17. With over five minutes left, Cannistraci made two foul shots to bring Penn State Altoona within two, and the Lions' Megan Hartman (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) tied the game 21-21 with a layup at 5:02. Matthews made two foul shots later in the quarter to put Penn State Altoona up 25-23, and the Lions led for the rest of the game. In the last thirty seconds of the first half, Sarah Huston (Coatesville, PA/Coatesville) stole the ball from the Panthers and made a layup, then connected on a three at the very end of the half to make it 32-25.
In the third quarter of the game, the Lions continued to hustle and keep a strong lead against the Panthers. Matthews started the third quarter with a layup, and Hartman made two foul shots to increase her team's advantage to 36-25. At 6:14, Cannistraci's layup put the score at 38-25. In the final two minutes, Kitko hit a three-pointer that got the Lions to a 16-point lead, 50-34, and Penn State Altoona ended the third quarter with a 52-41 lead.
In the first four minutes of the final quarter, Matthews scored eight points and blocked a Panther layup 4:17. Pitt-Bradford picked things up early in the quarter, however, when Cailey Barnett made a layup and foul shot to lower the Panthers' deficit to 54-46. But Pitt-Bradford did not get any closer, and Cannistraci's basket in the final minute of the fourth quarter got Penn State Altoona to its biggest lead of the game, 70-51.
Matthews and Cannistraci led all players in the game with 20 points each. Matthews also finished with eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks, while Cannistraci had eight assists, seven rebounds, three steals, and one block.
Hartman totaled eight points, six rebounds, and two steals, and Huston recorded a career-high 10 assists to go along with eight points and eight rebounds. Kitko led the Lions in rebounding with nine while scoring six points and notching three steals.
Barnett scored a team-high 18 points for Pitt-Bradford, and Ackerman finished with 10 points.
The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team's next game is at home against non-conference opponent Chatham University on Monday, December 20. Tip-off for that game has been set for 2:00 pm.
