Lions’ Season Ends with Playoff Loss to Hilbert
by Christina Roukas
ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team's season ended on Tuesday night, when the Lions were defeated 54-40 by Hilbert College in a first-round Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament game in the Adler Arena.
With the loss, Penn State Altoona (11-14), the fourth seed in the tournament, is eliminated from the postseason. Meanwhile, Hilbert (11-15) will advance to face number one seed La Roche University in an AMCC semifinal round game this Friday, February 24 at 6 p.m.
In the first half, the Lions struggled to get into a rhythm offensively and trailed 10-4 by the end of the opening quarter. Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) made a layup early in the second quarter to narrow Hilbert's lead to 13-6, and a layup from Jordan Bisignani (Pittsburgh, PA/Peters Township) made it 22-10 later in the period. Nearly a minute later, a layup plus a foul shot from Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) put the Lions behind by 10, 23-13.
Penn State Altoona picked up the pace toward the end of the first half. Two foul shots from Bisignani got the Lions within nine, followed by a layup from Burns to cut the Hilbert lead to 25-18. A pair of foul shots by Camryn Figard (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) lowered the Lions' deficit to five, and by halftime, Hilbert was up 26-20.
In the third quarter, Hilbert started on a 9-0 run to increase its advantage to 35-20, and the Hawks went on to lead by as many as 19 points during the period. Bisignani connected from the three line late in the quarter to make it 45-29, and the Lions went into the final period down by 16 points.
Hilbert boosted its lead back to 19 points during the fourth quarter, and despite two late three-pointers by Bisignani, the Hawks won by a final score of 54-40.
Bisignani led the Lions by posting career-highs with 19 points and 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Sayles contributed 10 points, eight rebounds, and two steals.
Hilbert got a game-high 21 points from Mackenzie Catan, with all of her scoring coming on seven three-pointers. Ashley Schroeder added 13 points for the Hawks, and Alesia Hamm had 10 points.
