Women’s Basketball Loses Overtime Battle With La Roche
ALTOONA, Pa. – Despite one of its best performances of the young season, the Penn State Altoona women's basketball team suffered an 81-72 overtime loss to Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent La Roche University on Wednesday evening in the Adler Arena.
Penn State Altoona had La Roche (4-2, 1-0 AMCC), the defending AMCC champions and winners of eight of the past ten conference championships, on the ropes for much of the game. The Lions (1-7, 0-2 AMCC) posted their best field goal percentage of the season as a team (41.3 percent), as well as their best three-point percentage (28.6 percent).
But La Roche mounted a second half comeback to overcome a Penn State Altoona lead, eventually forcing overtime and handing the Lions a loss.
Penn State Altoona's Alexis Cannistraci (Tyrone, PA/Tyrone) led all scorers with 28 points, blocked a game-high four shots, dished out a team-leading six assists, and also secured nine rebounds. Megan Hartman (Claysburg, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) put up a season-high 17 points for the Lions.
Ellie Matthews (Kennett Square, PA/Kennett) contributed her second double-double of the season with a team-high 13 rebounds and 14 points, including a 3-for-5 performance from three-point range. She also blocked three shots. Sarah Huston (Coatesville, PA/Coatesville) added 11 points, five rebounds, and a game-high five steals.
La Roche got 21 points from Makayla Abram, as well as 20 points and 13 rebounds from Machia Hairston.
Penn State Altoona maneuvered its way into the lead by the end of a sluggish first quarter that saw both teams struggle from the field, as the Lions shot 26.7 percent from the floor and La Roche hit just 18.8 percent of their attempts from the field. Down 5-0 for most of the period, Penn State Altoona got its first points of the game at 3:42 on a Matthews three-pointer, then tied the score on Huston's layup 23 seconds later. Cannistraci made two layups and added a pair of free throws to help get the Lions to an 11-7 lead by the conclusion of the quarter.
The offense picked up in the second quarter, with Penn State Altoona maintaining its advantage by a narrow margin by halftime. After La Roche reclaimed a lead, 16-11, Penn State Altoona reeled off a 10-0 run that consisted of three Hartman baskets and two Cannistraci buckets to put the Lions up 21-16 by the 4:14 mark. A pair of foul shots by Hartman at 1:10 kept the home team ahead by five, 27-22, but the Redhawks countered with two layups and a free throw by Abram to knot the score at 27. A foul shot and layup from Hartman over the next 29 seconds put Penn State Altoona back in front, and a last second score by La Roche's Shaundrea Butler set the halftime score at 30-29.
Penn State Altoona had its best shooting performance of the night in the third quarter, connecting on 56.3 percent of its shots from the field and outscoring the Redhawks 22-14. Matthews' trey at 3:18 put her team up by one, 44-43, and baskets by Emily Marines (Nanty Glo, PA/Blacklick Valley) and Huston made it 48-43 with 1:41 left in the quarter. After a pair of Cannistraci free throws, Hartman's layup with eight seconds remaining in the period gave Penn State Altoona its largest lead of the game, 52-43.
But La Roche rallied to outscore Penn State Altoona 23-14 in the fourth quarter, ultimately tying the score by the end of regulation. Danajah Sanders' three-pointer at 7:42 brought La Roche's deficit down to five, 56-51, and back-to-back treys from Alexis Robinson cut the Lions' lead to just one, 58-57.
After baskets by Hairston and Abram helped the Redhawks to a 65-61 lead by 3:07, Cannistraci converted on a three-point play at 1:10 to bring Penn State Altoona back to within one, 65-64. A foul shot by Hairston added a point to La Roche's total, but Cannistraci sank two more free throws with 35 seconds left to tie the game at 66-66. Neither team was able to score during the remaining time, and the game proceeded to overtime.
Penn State Altoona got out to a strong start in the extra period, when Matthews connected on her third trey of the night at 4:20 to put the Lions up 69-66. But a quick 6-0 run by the visitors propelled La Roche to a 72-69 lead, and the Redhawks never looked back as they grew their advantage to nine by the game's end.
Next up, Penn State Altoona continues AMCC play with a road game at Medaille College this Saturday, December 4. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.
