Women's Basketball Falls Short in AMCC Semifinals

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The No. 2 seeded Penn State Behrend women's basketball team fell 60-52 to No. 3 Pitt-Bradford in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) semifinals on Saturday afternoon at La Roche.

Ali Rinfrette, the current AMCC Athlete of the Week, scored 15 points in the second half and seven alone in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 24 points to help the Panthers (18-9) advance to the championship game against La Roche.

Ali Goetz (Mars, PA/Mars) and Sadie Zielinski (Erie, PA/Harbor Creek) each finished with 11 points, including three triples apiece for the Lions (15-11).

Despite outscoring Pitt-Bradford 16-9 in the fourth quarter, Behrend could not overcome the 15-point deficit built over the first three quarters to get past the Panthers.

With the scored tied at 10-all at the 6:10 mark of the first quarter, Pitt-Bradford used a 7-2 run behind five points from Abby Brate to take the lead for good at 17-12 heading into the second quarter.

The Panthers kept the steady lead in the second and extending the five-point lead to nine after the first 20 minutes of play. Pitt-Bradford got the double-digit lead on the first basket made in the third quarter, a three-pointer by Darien Lantz. She followed that with another triple on the next possession for a 38-23 advantage.

Goetz and Zielinski each drained two three pointers in the fourth quarter. The triples were consecutive field-goals made to help the Lions cut the lead to 57-52 with 25 seconds left. Rinfrette went 3-for-4 from the line in the final 24 seconds to give the Panthers their third win over Behrend this season.

Dani Reinwald (Clymer, NY/Clymer Central) contributed eight rebounds, six points and five blocks. As a team, the Lions outrebounded Pitt-Bradford 39-33.

The Lions will now await a postseason bid to the ECAC South Region Tournament, announced on Monday.