BOX SCORE

Gettysburg, Pa. (Jan. 3, 2007) – Alvernia College scored the first five points of the game from the free throw line and hit 19-of-22 from the stripe in the second half in a 64-55 win over The College of New Jersey Wednesday evening in opening day action of the Days Inn Tournament hosted by Gettysburg College.  Alvernia senior Kerry Higgs (Westminster, DE/Westminster) hit three of the first five free throws and finished the night with a career-high 13 points, all from the free throw line.

            Alvernia (5-3) built its first half lead to six points, 8-2, with over six minutes elapsed, but TCNJ (5-6) fought back to tie the score at 15-all and eventually finished off a 14-0 run that put the Lions up 10, 25-15, with 3:21 left in the opening half.

            Alvernia sophomore Allee Barnes (Blooming Glen, PA/Pennridge) nailed her first of two 3s and Ashlee Blevins (York, PA/Central York) followed with a bucket to cut the Lions’ lead in half.  TCNJ mirrored the 5-0 Alvernia spurt to push the lead back to 10 points, but Alvernia freshman Joanna Graber (Manalapan, NJ/Notre Dame) hit one of her four 3s to send the Crusaders to the break down just seven, 30-23.

            Barnes opened and closed a 7-0 Alvernia run to start the second half and the scored was knotted at 30-30 with 14:44 to play.  The run featured three more free throws for the Crusaders and the bookend buckets from Barnes.

            TCNJ built its lead back to four points, but four straight free throws from Higgs and senior Lauren Fortna (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon) forged a 34-all tie.  Alvernia sophomore Tenay Gaddy (LaPlata, MD/McDonough) gave Alvernia its first lead since 15-13 and four minutes later after 3s from Fortna and Graber Alvernia held an eight point lead it never relinquished.

            TCNJ, which finished the night just 1-for-4 from the free throw line, closed the late deficit to two points twice, once at 49-47, with 5:37 left, and again at 55-53 with 57 seconds left, but the Crusaders hit 10 of their final 11 free throws to secure the win.

            Graber finished the night 4-for-6 from the 3-point arc and led the Crusaders with a career-high 14 points off the bench.  Fortna added 12 and Barnes finished with 10.  Blevins scored nine points on the strength of a 7-for-8 effort from the free throw line.  TCNJ got 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds from Breanne Depken (Oradell, NJ/River Dell) and 12 points from Hillary Klimowicz (Scotch Plains, NJ/Soctch Plains-Fanwood).

            Alvernia will face the winner of the Gettysburg/Susquehanna game Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. in the Championship Game of the Days Inn Tournament.

Alvernia 64, The College of New Jersey 55