BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Jan. 19, 2008) – Gwynedd-Mercy College took sole possession of first place in the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference women's basketball north division Saturday afternoon with a 75-65 win over Alvernia College at the Physical Education Center.

The Griffins (10-4, 5-0 PAC) used a pair of short runs in the first half to take a 10-point lead at the break and both teams put 40 points on the board in the second half for the 10-point final. Senior Jill Rosolie (Quarryville, Pa./Solanco) led the Crusaders (5-8, 3-1 PAC) with 16 points which was matched by GMC freshman Lauren Rosar (Pottstown, Pa./Pottsgrove), one of five Griffins to reach double digits.

It was the final home conference, regular-season game for Alvernia versus Gwynedd-Mercy with the Crusaders upcoming move to the Freedom Conference next fall. The two titans of the PAC, which share three each of the last six conference championships, slugged it out for the first seven possessions with neither team connecting. It was quite a different story than two nights ago when Alvernia and Centenary, in their first ever PAC meeting, combined for 22 total points in the first five minutes.

Once the scoring started, Rosolie scored the first four for the hosts around a 3 from GMC senior Karen Tierney (Blue Bell, Pa./Kennedy-Kenrick), and the Griffins scored eight straight from there to take an early 11-4 lead. Rosolie answered with a jumper and Joanna Graber (Manlapan, N.J./Notre Dame) hit a 3 to cut the gap to 11-9.

GMC pushed its lead back to seven points, 16-9, but the Crusaders responded with a 10-4 spurt to cut the gap to one, 20-19, with seven minutes left in the first half. Freshmen forwards Tracee Harrison (Willow Street, Pa./Solanco) and Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) led the way with four points each during the run.

Sophomore Kate Wisniewski (Newtown Square, Pa./Bishop Shanahan), who paced the Griffins in the first half, hit a 3 to answer the run and the guests pushed the lead to double digits for the first time, 33-23, with 2:11 left in the half. Alvernia finished the half with a pair of free throws to a Tierney bucket and the Griffins held 10 at the break, 35-25.

Kristy Cramp (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley), who finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and five steals, hit a 3 on the first possession of the second half for a 13-point lead and it took the Crusaders 16 minutes to bring the lead back inside double figures.

Harrison scored back-to-back buckets with four minutes to play cutting the lead from a dozen down to eight, 60-52, but the Griffins answered with eight straight to double their lead and salt the game away. Tierney assisted on the last three scores of the run and finished the day with 11 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.

Velazquez and Graber joined Rosolie in double digits for the Crusaders with 14 and 13 points respectively. The hosts finished with 19 turnovers and fell to 0-8 in games where it has more turnovers than the opponent. Conversely, in all other games the Crusaders are 5-0.

Alvernia will travel to Misericordia University for a women's and men's doubleheader with the Cougars. Game times are 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.

Gwynedd-Mercy 75, Alvernia 65