by Casey Burinskas

ALTOONA, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team was at home in the Adler Arena on Wednesday night to take on Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Mount Aloysius College, and a late rally by the Lions came up short in a 69-62 loss.

Mount Aloysius (12-9, 7-5 AMCC) limited Penn State Altoona (10-10, 7-4 AMCC) to 25 first-half points, and the Mounties led by 15 at halftime. The visitors grew their lead to as many as 19 points early in the fourth quarter, and despite the Lions storming back to make it a four-point game late, the Mounties hung on for the victory.

Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) put up a game-high 19 points for Penn State Altoona while also tying for the team lead in rebounds and steals with six and three, respectively. Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) contributed 15 points and two assists.

Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) added nine points, six rebounds, and three assists. Madison Rusnica (DuBois, PA/DuBois) chipped in eight points, four rebounds, three steals, and tied for the game high in assists with four. Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) scored seven points and had a pair of steals.

Mount Aloysius was led in scoring by Molly Kosmack, who finished with 18 points. Molly Richards and Jade Love-Morris recorded 12 points apiece for the Mounties.

In the first quarter, Burns set the first points on the board by putting in a shot, and coming in soon after, Green was able to put up two more points to help the Lions take an early lead, 4-0. The Mounties got on the board with a free throw, but Altoona responded with threes coming in from McCracken and Burns to make it 10-1. Mount Aloysius answered with a 12-0 run to take a three-point lead, and despite four points from McCracken and three late free throws secured by Rusnica, the first quarter ended with Altoona trailing 22-17.

Coming into the second quarter, a Mounties foul led to a McCracken free throw that started the scoring. Sayles put up her first points of the game with a jump shot at 4:38, and the Lions also got points from free throws by Green and Burns. But Altoona only scored a total of eight points in the second quarter and ended the half trailing the Mounties by 15 with a score of 40-25.

Hopeful in the third quarter, Altoona started off strong with a layup from McCracken and a jump shot from Green. Rusnica later put up five points for the Lions on a layup and three-pointer that closed the Mounties' lead to 12 points, 48-36. Burns and Green both made baskets later in the period, but Mount Aloysius closed out the third quarter with a 58-41 lead.

Entering the final quarter, the Lions started off with two three-pointers from McCracken and a layup by Rakaya Cooper (East Orange, NJ/East Orange). Five points from Sayles cut the Mount Aloysius lead to six, 60-54, by 5:44, and three-pointers by McCracken and Burns closed the gap to six again, 66-60, with 2:55 remaining. Cooper put up another layup at 1:25 to bring Altoona even closer, making it 66-62. But the Lions were unable to come back and complete the job, falling to the Mounties by a final score of 69-62.

Next, the Penn State Altoona Lions will face off against another AMCC opponent, Penn State Behrend, at 4 p.m. in Erie, Pa., this Saturday, February 8.