#1 La Roche University and #2 Penn State Behrend each earned semifinal victories in the AMCC women's basketball championship tournament on Friday afternoon to advance to the championship game on Saturday.
La Roche 58, Mount Aloysius 52
#1 La Roche University defeated #5 Mount Aloysius 58-52 in the women's baskebtall semifinals Friday afternoon. It was Mount Aloysius who hit the first basket of the game and stayed in control for the majority of the first half, as the Mounties took a 32-26 lead into the locker room at halftime. Molly Kosmack scored the first bucket on her way to 18 first half points. La Roche went ahead by three on a Jazmine Dunn layup with 4:08 left in the half to give the Redhawks their largest lead of the half. The Mounties closed the first half out on an 11-2 run, capped by eight points by Kosmack to take the six point halftime lead. The Mounties and Redhawks continued to battle in the third, with Mount Aloysius narrowly outscoring La Roche 12-11 in the frame to hang on to a 43-38 lead after three quarters. Dunn started out the fourth quarter with a free throw and a jump shot for La Roche, followed by a Dasja Anderson layup to tied the score at 43-all with 6:56 to play. Two more free throws by Dunn and a Makayla Abram jumper put the Redhaws up 47-43 with 5:16 on the clock. Molly Richards opened the scoring for the Mounties in the fourth with a jumper and a Jade Love-Morris basket tied the game at 47 with just over four minutes to play. The Redhawks built a four point lead back up with 2:26 to play, but the Mounties weren't ready to go home quite yet. A Kosmack layup and Annalynn Isaacs three-pointer put the Mounties up by one with 1:34 to go. Abram hit a jumper in the key with :40 to play to put La Roche up 53-52 followed by two Dunn free throws for a La Roche three point lead with 29.2 seconds to play. Mount Aloysius had an open look at a three but missed on the front end before two more La Roche free throws gave the Redhawks the biggest lead of the day, 57-52 with 16 seconds to play. Danielle Allen hit a free throw for La Roche to set the final score at 58-52.
Dunn led the Redhawks with 24 points, while Abram added 14 and Andersion chipped in with 10. Kosmack led Mount Aloysius with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Penn State Behrend 76, Penn State Altoona 69
The No. 2 Penn State Behrend women's basketball team defeated No. 3 Penn State Altoona 76-69 in the semifinal round of the AMCC Championship on Friday afternoon. Behrend held a slight two-point lead after the first 10 minutes and then outscored Altoona 20-12 in the second quarter. The 55 percent shooting in the second quarter led to a 10-point halftime lead. Junior guard Rachel Majewski scored eight points in the third to keep the Lions out in front. The Altoona Lions rallied in the fourth to post a 20-13 advantage in scoring, thanks to 10 points from Avana Sayles.
Majewski led Behrend with 22 points and Morgan Altavilla added 15 points. Forward Alexis Furyes led on the boards with 14 rebounds, while Rachel Kaulis. Madilyn Boyer tallied eight points and eight boards, and Julia Balaski tallied five points and six rebounds. Sayles posted 35 points and 17 rebounds for Altoona.
La Roche and Behrend will square off for the AMCC Championship tomorrow at 2 p.m. at La Roche University.