BOX SCORE

Reading, PA (Feb. 21, 2006) – Junior guard Lauren Fortna (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon Catholic) scored all of her game-high 17 points after halftime to lead fourth seeded Alvernia College to a 55-35 win over #5 Cabrini College Tuesday evening in the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championships at the Physical Education Center.

            Alvernia (14-12) held the Cavaliers (11-15) to just 4-of-27 from the floor in the first half and 16 total points at the break.  The visitors didn’t fare much better in the second half hitting 7-of-30 shots from the field after halftime.  The Crusaders advance to the PAC semifinal Thursday at #1 Gwynedd-Mercy.  Game time is 7:00 p.m. in Lower Gwynedd.

            Freshman forward Allee Barnes (Blooming Glen, PA/Pennridge), who scored nine points off the bench and grabbed a team best six rebounds, knocked down a jumper with just under seven minutes left in the first half to give Alvernia a 13-12 lead and the Crusaders rattled off 13 of the next 15 points to take a 24-14 lead.  Barnes hit two 3s and senior Mandy Reinhart (Pine Grove, PA/Pine Grove) hit another as the Crusaders were a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc in the first half.

            Cabrini freshman Kayleen Smith (Williamstown, NJ/St. Joseph’s) hit the Cavs fourth jumper of the half and Barnes’ free throw with 1:11 on the clock made the score 25-16, where it remained at the half.

            The second half score teetered between five and eight until the visitors put together four straight to cut the gap to three points, 31-28 wit 9:46 to play.  Fortna knocked down a pair from the line and capped a streak of eight straight with a 3 at 7:22 that put the hosts up 39-28.

            Cabrini cut the lead to eight at 6:14 on a Sharae Middlebrook (Philadelphia, PA/Central) jumper and nine points, 43-34, at 3:34 on a Nikki Duggan (Allentown, PA/Emmaus) 3, but Alvernia finished with 12 of the final 13 for the 55-35 final.

            Alvernia sophomore Ashley Blevins (York, PA/Central York) was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the free throw line to finish with a career-high 13. Ryan was the only Cavalier to reach double digits with 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting.  Middlebrook finished with eight points and a game-high seven rebounds.

            Alvernia will face Gwynedd-Mercy for the third straight year in the PAC Championships.  Each of the last two meetings were Alvernia wins in the PAC Final.  GMC swept both games this season en route to a 16-0 record in conference.

#4 Alvernia 55, #5 Cabrini 35