HAMBURG, N.Y. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team improved to 2-0 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference on Saturday, when the Lions defeated league opponent Hilbert College 75-40 in the Hafner Recreation Center.

Penn State Altoona (5-7, 2-0 AMCC) held Hilbert (4-9, 0-2 AMCC) to just 40 points on a 26.3 percent field goal percentage while forcing 23 turnovers. The Lions were also helped by their 42.3 percent performance from three-point range, making 11 threes as a team to tie for the fifth-most in a game in program history.

Jess Burns (South Fayette, PA/South Fayette) led all scorers in the game with a season-high 27 points, hitting 11 shots from the field to tie for the sixth-most field goals made in a game in Lions history. Avana Sayles (Venetia, PA/Peters Township) notched her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Sarah Huston (Coatesville, PA/Coatesville) added 10 points to go along with a game-high seven assists and four steals, and Emma Kitko (Houtzdale, PA/Moshannon Valley) scored nine points.

Hilbert got 10 points from Ashley Schroeder and eight points from Alesia Hamm.

Penn State Altoona worked its way out to a five-point lead by the conclusion of the first quarter. Leading 4-3 in the early going, three-pointers from Burns and Sayles boosted the Lions' lead to 10-3 by the 5:29 mark. Kitko hit a three-pointer at 2:46 to make it 13-6, and a Camryn Figard (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg) layup at 1:27 kept the difference at seven points, 15-8. Hilbert made it a two-point game when Mackenzie Catan connected from three-point range to make it 15-13 with 41 seconds left, but Huston answered with a trey of her own with eight seconds to go to make it 18-13.

The Lions widened the gap by posting a 10-point scoring advantage during the second quarter. Baskets by Burns and Sayles got Penn State Altoona's lead back to seven, 24-17, by 7:33. Back-to-back threes by Burns increased the Lions' lead to 30-17 by 5:33, and three-pointers by Kitko on consecutive possessions put her team up 36-21 by 2:03. Huston made a layup with 54 seconds to go, and Penn State Altoona went into halftime leading 38-23.

Penn State Altoona broke the game open during the third quarter, during which they outscored Hilbert 25-10. A layup from Sayles and two jumpers from Burns accounted for the first six points of the quarter, and two more Burns three-pointers helped make it 52-25 by 5:14. Figard's layup at 1:15 grew Penn State Altoona's lead to 30 points, 61-31, and a Huston layup at the 30-second mark kept it at 30, 63-33.

Sayles started the scoring for the Lions in the fourth quarter with a layup at 7:23 that kept her team ahead by 30 points, 65-35, and a Burns layup at 3:09 helped to maintain the margin, 70-40. Jaidyn McCracken (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) made a layup and Sydney Barnett (Suwanee, GA/North Gwinnett) hit a three-pointer within the closing 1:25 to give Penn State Altoona its largest lead of the game as the contest came to an end.

Penn State Altoona outscored Hilbert in points off turnovers (17-2) and second chance points (24-8) by wide margins, as well as winning the rebounding battle (47-41).

Penn State Altoona women's basketball will look for its third AMCC win next Wednesday, January 11, when the Lions will return home to host conference foe Pitt-Greensburg at 7:00 p.m.