Women's Basketball Falls Short of AMCC Title

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The La Roche women's basketball team defeated Penn State Behrend 63-58 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championships on Saturday at the Kerr Fitness Center.

The Redhawks (24-2 AMCC) won their third straight conference title and improved their winning streak to 12 straight victories to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Jessica Pitts led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting.

The Lions (17-10), who handed La Roche one of those losses earlier this season, outscored the Redhawks 38-30 in the second half and shot 50 percent from the floor for the game but could not overcome the 13-point first-half deficit.

Holly Bourquin (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) and Julia Myers (Edinboro, PA/General McLane) each scored 17 apiece. Bourquin led on the boards with nine rebounds and added three steals. Brianna Bayly (Imperial, PA/West Allegheny) drained three triples for 13 points and Hannah Novotny (Cabot, PA/Knoch) chipped in 10.

With a slight lead at 12-11, La Roche reeled off seven straight points to make it, 19-11. Bayly's three-pointer got the Lions within five, but the Redhawks pushed the lead to nine with a pair of free throws by Pitts and a jump shot by Shataya White.

With 1:55 left in the first, Casie Cygan scored four points on back-to-back possessions at 29-18. Myers scored and White followed with a layup, and Lashauna Brothers made the final basket of the half for a 33-20 lead.

Behrend got within five thanks to a 7-2 run to start the second half. After a Redhawks timeout, Novotny drove in for the layup and Bayly made another triple to make it, 37-34.

La Roche then answered with a 12-1 run six points from Pitts to regain the double-digit lead (49-35). The final 12:39 of the game, the Lions never backed down and put up a fight for that AMCC title. Behrend scored eight points in the final 31 seconds, but it wasn't enough to stop the defending champions.

The Lions will await a possible bid into the ECAC Tournament, announced on Monday afternoon.