Penn State Behrend women's basketball earned a hard fought 82-72 victory over Penn State Altoona in a key AMCC contest on Saturday, February 7 in front of 323 fans at the Junker Center.  The Behrend Lions made several big plays down the stretch to snatch the win after both teams battled in a game that was close for most of the second half.

Behrend Lions had the hot hand to start the game building a 20-11 lead just six minutes into the game.  Behrend would get it to a ten-point lead on two occasions before Altoona made a 12-2 run to tie the game at 33-33 with under five minutes to play in the first half.  Altoona briefly held a one point lead before Kelly Nowacinski (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) hit a layup to end the first half with Behrend ahead 44-43.

Both teams capitalized on their scoring chances as Behrend shot 18-of-28 (64%) and Altoona converted 21-of-34 (62%).  Nowacinski led all scorers at the break with 13 points.  Altoona had two players in double figures as Tamara Thomas hit for 12 points and Kelli Steiner scored 11.

In the second half it was Altoona's turn to build a lead as the visitors went up 59-51 with 11 minutes left to play.  Rachel Richardson (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) knocked down a 3-point shot and Natalie Engel (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) made back-to-back shots from long range as the blue and white pulled to within a point at 64-63 with under seven minutes to play.  Behrend would grab the lead on its next possession, scoring on a layup by Amy Oldach (Erie, Pa./Villa Maria Academy). 

Altoona again took the lead, and then went up 70-67 on a bucket by Marissa Lucas, but Behrend used a 12-0 run to put some distance between the teams.  The run started when Nowacinski hit two free throws and Richardson followed that up by scoring five straight points to put Behrend ahead 74-70 with two minutes remaining.  Oldach then hit two free throws and a 3-pointer to help secure the victory.

Each team had four players in double figures in scoring.  For Behrend, Engel had 19 points and hit 4-of-4 from long range.  Oldach had 18 points with four assists, Nowacinski scored 15 to go with four assists, and Richardson added 13 points and seven steals.  Altoona was led by Thomas and Steiner who each had 16 points and six boards.

The blue and white will be on the road for three straight conference games before closing out the year at home against Pitt-Bradford on February 21 at 6:00 p.m.