BETHANY, W.Va. – The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team lost 77-43 on Saturday afternoon against non-conference opponent Bethany College at the Hummel Field House.

Holding a 14-point lead at halftime, Bethany (3-1) used a 25-point third quarter to break the game open and hand Penn State Altoona (1-4) the defeat by a comfortable margin.

Megan Hartman (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) scored a game-high 14 points for Penn State Altoona, while Sarah Huston (Coatesville, PA/Coatesville) added 14 points. Ellie Matthews (Kennett Square, PA/Kennett) tied for the game-high in rebounds with 10 while adding six points.

Alexis Cannistraci (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) scored eight points for the Lions to move into second place on the Penn State Altoona women's basketball program's all-time scoring list. Cannistraci passed former Lion Courtney Carroll (2007-11) and her total of 1,191 points and now trails former teammate Finnley Christine (2016-20), who holds the team's career points record with 1,276.

Bethany's Ashleigh Wheeler led all scorers on the day with 18 points. Makenzee Mason scored 14 points, and Lindsey Garrison and Taylor Stinnett contributed 11 points apiece.

Penn State Altoona came back from an early 4-0 deficit in the first quarter, as three-pointers by Hartman on consecutive possessions put the Lions up 6-4 by the 6:27 mark. Cannistraci's jumper later in the period kept the score tied 8-8, and Huston converted on a three-point play at 3:03 to give the visitors an 11-10 advantage. But Bethany ended the quarter on a 7-0 run to finish the period with a six-point lead.

The Bison outscored Penn State Altoona by eight points during the second quarter to expand their lead to 37-23 by halftime. After two Cannistraci free throws at 8:58 kept the Lions within seven, 20-13, Bethany used two layups from Mason and one by Alexis Heap to increase its lead to 13 points, 26-13. Wheeler's foul shot at 2:15 extended the home team's lead to 37-21, and Bethany went into the locker room ahead by 14 points following a late layup by Matthews.

Things took a turn for the worse for Penn State Altoona in the third quarter, when Bethany added 25 points to their total while limiting the Lions to just nine points in the period. The home team went on to outscore Penn State Altoona 15-11 in the fourth quarter to finish the game with a 34-point win.

The women's basketball team's next game is Tuesday, November 23, when the Lions will travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia to take on non-conference opponent Eastern Mennonite University at 5:00 p.m.