by Casey Burinskas

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team returned to the road on Saturday to take on Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Penn State Behrend, who dealt the Lions a 77-61 loss in the Junker Center.

Behrend (16-5, 12-0 AMCC) came out strong, putting 31 points on the board in the opening quarter en route to a 50-31 halftime lead. Penn State Altoona (10-11, 7-5 AMCC) tightened things up on defense in the second half, when they held Behrend to 27 points across the final two quarters, but the Lions were unable to dig out of their hole.

Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) posted her seventh double-double of the season for Penn State Altoona, leading all players in the game with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) added 13 points, and Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) scored 10 points.

Skylar McCall (Cleveland Heights, OH/Cleveland Heights) chipped in six points off the bench. Madison Rusnica (DuBois, PA/DuBois) had team bests with six assists and two steals.

Behrend got 18 points from Rachel Majewski, 17 points from Madilyn Boyer, and 11 apiece from Julia Balaski and Morgan Altavilla.

In the first quarter, Green was first to make points for Altoona with a layup. Coming after that, Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) and Sayles both made jump shots, and after a foul against Behrend, Sayles was able to sink two free throws to tie the score at 10-10. McCall entered the game and landed a layup before making a jump shot to end the quarter. But Behrend ended the period ahead of Altoona by a 31-18 margin.

Coming into the second quarter, Sayles made a jump shot, and Green was right behind her with a jumper. Later, Burns scored her first points, adding to her team's total with a three-pointer. Sayles completed another jump shot with time ticking down in the latter stages of the quarter, and Green's jump shot and McCall's layup ended the second quarter scoring for the Lions, who trailed Behrend by 19, 50-31.

Coming out of the half, Burns made Altoona's first points with a three-pointer. After the Lions went several minutes without any points, Sayles broke the drought when she made a jump shot, followed by Green making a layup. Burns made two foul shots, and with two free throws and a jump shot from Sayles late in the period, Altoona ended the quarter falling behind Behrend by a score of 65-44.

In the final quarter, Rusnica scored her first points of the game with a made jump shot to help close the gap with the Behrend Lions. McCracken then made a jump shot, followed by Green making a layup with an assist from Rusnica. With three minutes left in the game and trailing by 18, time was running out for Altoona to try and make a comeback. Burns scored a three-pointer with another assist from Rusnica, and Layilah Drakes (Saegertown, PA/Saegertown) made a layup with two minutes remaining. But that ended the scoring for the Lions, and Behrend closed out the game to come out on top by a final score of 77-61.

Next, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team will be back on the road against Carlow University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, February 12.