GREENSBURG, Pa. - The Penn State Altoona women's basketball team was outscored 36-20 in the paint, and the conference's sixth-seeded La Roche Redhawks used a 38-10 advantage from their bench to knock off the Lions 69-58 in the squads' Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament semi-final contest Friday night in Greensburg.

After a 30-26 deficit at halftime, Altoona regained the lead shortly after intermission from a Courtney Carrol (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) jump shot at the 18:07 mark, and the Lions would hold the lead for much of the next 11 minutes.  But La Roche's Chantelle Jennings' layup with 6:56 remaining would put the Redhawks up 51-50, and the squad would not give up the lead on their way to the conference's championship game.

The Lions managed to shoot just 18-56 from the field (32.1%), and the squad was outrebounded 47-41.  La Roche shot just 1-11 (9.1%) from the three-point arc, but was able to force 16 Altoona turnovers and grab 17 offensive rebounds.

The Redhawks' were able to convert those 17 offensive rebounds into 20 second chance points.

Carroll played all 40 minutes and led the Lions with 16 points, while junior Alicia Glasser (Marion Center, PA/Marion Center) netted 15 points including three three-pointers. 

La Roche enjoyed an impressive game from Cheronda Ransaw, who scored 24 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and recorded three blocked shots in 26 minutes off of the bench for the Redhawks.  Melissa Natcher also notched 21 points and connected on all 11 of her free-throw attempts.

The Lions, who were picked to finish sixth in the AMCC preseason coaches poll, entered the conference tournament with the number two seed and ended their season at 16-10 overall.

Altoona also boasted a 13-5 regular season record against its conference opponents. 

First-seeded Pitt-Greensburg defeated fifth-seeded Medaille 61-49 also on Friday night, meaning that La Roche will face Greensburg for the AMCC championship game Saturday aftenoon at 3:00 PM in Greensburg.