PITTSBURGH, PA - Women's basketball was crowned AMCC Champions for their 3rd straight year this evening after a nail-biting matchup between your Redhawks, and the Penn State Behrend Lions. 

The Lions were named the No. 2 seed after the regular conference season, with their only two losses of the year coming from the Redhawks. La Roche was named the No. 1 seed, but they knew how hard it is to beat a team three times in a season. The Lions were looking to come out victorious after losing the regular season title to the Redhawks but were willing to settle for tournament champions. 

The Scott Lang court was packed this afternoon with spectators from both teams, creating the perfect atmosphere for both teams to compete. Fans of either team witnessed 25 lead changes and 10 ties over the course of four periods. 

There were also quite a few more fouls than what either team was used to and both teams found themselves in foul trouble early. The Lions were called for 23 fouls, and La Roche was called for 15. Foul trouble held Makayla Abram from La Roche to only 6 points and held the Lions' Alexis Furyes, Madilyn Boyer, and Jordan Swartz to single-digit point totals, and reduced time on the court. 

Stepping up in the midst of all of the foul trouble was Machia Hairston. The La Roche veteran who has been in this position twice before earned another double-double for the season. She sank 24 buckets and crashed the boards for 17 rebounds.  She also collected 2 assists, and 2 blocks; one that turned out to be the winning play of the game. 

Alexis Robison had herself a game. With La Roche's usual point scorers needing to stay off the court due to foul trouble, Robison had no choice but to step up to the challenge and meet it head-on. Robison netted a season-high of 22 points. She shot 50% from the floor, going 4-for-8 from deep, and went 6-for-6 from the foul line. Robison also contributed 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block. 

In the end, it all came down to 7 seconds. Brianna Dean for the Lions stayed calm under pressure and earned the lead with a putback after a miss from Rachel Majewski. Behrend was up by 1 with 7 seconds on the clock. 

Kam Gissendanner who is no stranger to the pressure that comes with with these tight situations called a timeout to advance the inbound, and drew up a play for her tried and true athlete, Machia Hairston. From the hands of Jazmine Dunn, Hairston proved why she was entrusted with this task and completed a layup to steal the lead back by 1 point. 

However, Christine VanHook of the Lions showed that she is also no stranger to tight-knit situations, and called a time out of her own, advancing the ball once again. She put it in the hand of Morgan Altavilla, her leading scorer of the night. 

But when Altavilla put up her shot, Hairston was there with a block, stopping the ball in its tracks. She also made sure to grab her own rebound from her block, and with it, ran down the final seconds left on the clock, and with it, securing La Roche the win. 

The Redhawks were once again AMCC Champions, the program's 10th AMCC Tournament win. With their victory, the team also earned the AMCC's bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Women's basketball selection show will air this Monday at 2:30 PM on ncaa.org