Photo for the Mirror by Sienna Fell. Penn State Altoona's Raniyah Green (2) drives between two of Alfred State's defenders in the first round of the AMCC Championship Tournament Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Adler Arena.

The Penn State Altoona’s women’s basketball team has shot 38 percent from the field so far this season, but during the first half of their Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference quarterfinal against Alfred State, those shots just didn’t fall.

In fact, they were converting at only 24 percent, going 7-for-29. That didn’t shake the confidence of the team that coach Halee Hutchinson had in her group.

“Basically nothing’s going in and we’re only down six,” she said at the break. “They’re motivating themselves right now. I think I’ve said all that I need to this season.”

Thanks to a pair of threes from Bellwood-Antis graduate Jaidyn McCracken, and a couple of key jumpers from Avana Sayles late in the third, the fourth-seeded Lady Lions stormed back for a 63-52 win over the No. 5 Pioneers at Adler Gymnasium.

Sayles finished the night with a double-double, scoring 24 points and adding 10 rebounds, shooting 55 percent from the field.

There was some carry over into the second half as Josie Barton buried a 3-pointer and Jordan Niles and Sarah Somers added a pair of jumpers of their own for the Pioneers biggest lead of the day at 33-22.

That’s when the Lady Lions started chipping away as McCracken buried a 3-pointer to set off a 25-point outburst.

“We’re a pretty good shooting team, so I knew the shots would fall,” Hutchinson said. “We were getting good looks, they were just not going in the first half.”

McCracken later added a strong play defensively as a takeaway helped set up Sayles to cut the deficit to one.

And the duo wasn’t done there. McCracken, off a rebound, bounced off a Pioneer which set up Sayles for another bucket which made the score 45-40 after three quarters.

The Lady Lions outscored Alfred State, 13-2, on fast breaks and 18-6 off of turnovers.

“We like to play inside out and we struggled with it a little bit in the first half. All the girls started hitting shots which always helps. It was a rough start,” Hutchinson said.

While the coach is grateful for McCracken and Sayles sparking the comeback, she believes this is a reflection on the team’s resilience.

“They have been huge, but I can’t believe how well we just never gave up that game,” she said. “There have been games this season that we have fallen backwards. This was a game that they needed to not give up, and that everyone stepped on the floor gave everything that they had. It was really special to see.”

McCracken finished with 13 points and eight boards.

Penn State Altoona put the game away for good with a jumper from Madison Rusnica which put them up 58-48.

The Lady Lions’ reward is a trip to Erie on Friday as they meet the top-seed and semifinal and championship round host Penn State Behrend,which had a first-round bye.

ALFRED STATE (7-19): Somers 4-11 1-1 9, Niles 2-12 3-6 7, Benjamin 6-15 2-2 16, Searle 1-9 0-0 2, Barton 3-12 0-0 9, George 2-5 1-4 6, Merritt 0-3 0-0 0, Merry 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 19-69 7-13 52.

PENN STATE ALTOONA (13-13): Green 2-7 4-6 8, McCracken 3-10 4-6 13, Sayles 11-20 2-5 24, Rusnica 3-9 0-3 7, Burns 2-8 0-0 5, McCall 1-4 2-2 4, Kuzminski 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 23-60 13-21 63.

SCORE BY QUARTER

Alfred State 11 15 12 12 – 52

Penn State Altoona 6 14 25 18 – 63

3-point goals – Alfred State 7-24 (Niles 0-2, Benjamin 2-7, Searle 0-2, Barton 3-8, George 1-2, Merrit 0-2, Merry 1-1); Penn State Altoona 4-19 (McCracken 3-9, Rusnica 0-3, Burns 1-6, McCall 0-1). Assists – Alfred State 9 (Benjamin 4); Penn State Altoona 11 (Burns 3). Rebounds – Alfred State 46 (Benjamin 9); Penn State Altoona 46 (Green 12). Total Fouls – Alfred State 17, Penn State Altoona 13. Technical Fouls – None.