BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Jan. 12, 2008) – Freshman Kelli McIntyre (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain) scored 16 of her career-high 24 points in the first half as Alvernia College overcame a slow start to come from behind in a 66-51 victory over Rosemont College Saturday afternoon in Pennsylvania Athletic Conference women's basketball action at the Physical Education Center.

            Alvernia (4-7, 3-0 PAC) snapped a four-game losing skid and remained undefeated in conference play.  It was the 345th win in the career of Alvernia head coach Kevin Calabria (345-163) and his 195th victory in PAC games (195-42).  Alvernia has now held its opponent under 60 points in all four victories this season.

            McIntyre burst onto the scene at Alvernia scoring 19 points in the season opener, but had struggled to find the scoring touch as of late with only one other game over 11 points until Saturday.  The 5-7 guard fueled Alvernia's comeback with nine straight points for the Crusaders during a decisive run late in the first half.

            Alvernia was sluggish from the beginning allowing the Ramblers (3-5, 1-2 PAC) to jump out to a 12-4 lead over the first six minutes of play.  Sophomore forward Adriann Demchenko (Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington) carried the guests scoring six of her nine first-half points during the opening six minutes.

            Alvernia answered with buckets from Michelle Lutzkanin (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) and #August Reichardt# (Kenhorst, Pa./Governor Mifflin), but the Ramblers continued their solid play early getting a 3-pointer from Emily Montanez (Philadelphia, Pa./Frankford) to push the gap back to seven points, 15-8.

            McIntyre answered with a 3 from the corner and the Crusaders rattled off 11 of the next 14 to take their first lead of the day, 19-18, on a McIntyre layup with 5:24 left in the half.  The lead grew to seven points over the next two minutes with McIntyre accounting for all nine points during the stretch that left the hosts up 26-19.

            Rosemont cut the deficit to four points later in the half and Alvernia settled for a five-point cushion at the break, 28-23.  McIntyre led the way for the Crusaders through the first 20 minutes with 16 points.

            Alvernia opened the second half with an Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) layup, but Rosemont came back with five straight points to cut the lead down to two, 30-28.

            The Crusaders reasserted control with an 8-0 streak to earn their first double-digit lead of the day, 38-28, with 13:00 to play.  McIntyre added two more for a 12-point lead and the Crusaders cruised to the 15-point win.

            Velazquez finished the day with 12 points for Alvernia and Demcheko was the only Rosemont player to reach double figures with a dozen on 4-for-8 shooting.

            Alvernia will travel to York College (Pa.) for a non-conference game with the Spartans on Monday night.  Details on how to follow that action live are available on the Alvernia College website http://athletics.alvernia.edu.

Alvernia 66, Rosemont 51