by Casey Burinskas

ERIE, Pa. – The No. 4 seed Penn State Altoona women's basketball team's season came to an end on Friday evening in Erie, where the Lions were handed an 85-52 loss by No. 1 seed Penn State Behrend in the semifinal round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament at the Junker Center.

After the teams were tied 9-9 at the end of the first quarter, Behrend (20-5) had an eight-point scoring advantage in the second quarter to grab a 29-21 halftime lead. The home team went on to outscore Penn State Altoona (13-14) 56-31 in the second half to deal the Lions a playoff loss.

Raniyah Green (Hillside, NJ/East Orange/Hillside) recorded her fourth double-double of the season for Penn State Altoona with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) scored a team-best 13 points, Skylar McCall (Cleveland Heights, OH/Cleveland Heights) contributed seven points off the bench, and Madison Rusnica (DuBois, PA/DuBois) added six points. Sayles was named to the AMCC All-Tournament team at the conclusion of the game.

Behrend's Rachel Majewski led all players in scoring with 25 points, while Madilyn Boyer had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the home team.

In the first quarter, Sayles was first to put Altoona on the board with a free throw. Rusnica, not far behind, put up four points, and Halle Kuzminski (Warren, PA/Warren) made a jump shot, to give Altoona the early lead, 7-5. Trailing 9-7 later, Sayles made a layup to bring it back to a tie score, 9-9, by the end of the first quarter.

Starting the second quarter, Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) and Sayles secured jump shots to make it 13-13, but Behrend scored the next nine points to establish a 22-13 lead by 6:41. Green responded with a layup, followed by Sayles hitting a jump shot to close the gap to 22-17. Trailing 26-17 late in the period, Altoona got layups from Green and McCall to close out the second quarter scoring for the Lions, who trailed Behrend by eight, 29-21, at halftime.

Coming out of the half, Rusnica started the Lions' scoring with a layup, and Kuzminski sealed two free throws after a foul against Behrend halfway through the quarter. After that, Sayles made a jump shot and Rakaya Cooper (East Orange, NJ/East Orange) came right behind, securing two more free throws. McCall came down the court to make a layup in the closing seconds of the period, but it was a quiet quarter for Altoona. The Lions were outscored 32-14 in the period, falling behind Behrend 61-35 at the end of the third.

In the fourth, McCall found the net and sank a three-pointer in the first minute. Green made a jump shot, then a layup at the 6:10 mark to try and keep Altoona alive. Cooper landed a layup, followed by Infiniti Lewis (Richmond, VA/J.R. Tucker) making a layup for her first points of the game. With two final jump shots by Haley Hicks (Wylie, TX/Wylie East), the Lions' scoring ended, and Altoona ultimately fell to Behrend by a final score of 85-52 to close out their season.

With its win, Behrend will play for the AMCC Championship tomorrow, Saturday, March 1, on its home court.