BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Nov. 18, 2008) - Sophomore guard Kelli McIntyre (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain) scored seven of her game-high 19 and Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) scored half of her 18 during an eight-minute stretch that saw Alvernia University (2-1) turn an 11-point deficit into a two-point lead en route to a 74-69 win at Albright College (0-1) Tuesday evening in non-conference women's basketball action.

McIntyre's third and final 3 put Alvernia up five with three minutes to play and junior Joanna Graber (Manalapan, N.J./Notre Dame) hit two free throws for a seven-point edge with 2:23 to play, but Albright got six straight points from Bre Dillon over the next 63 ticks to cut the gap to one.  Alvernia hit enough free throws as the Lions went cold from the floor in the final minute missing a layup that could have tied the score and the front end of a 1-and-1 facing a two-point deficit.

Alvernia trailed by as many as 18 points with six minutes left in the first half, but cut that to seven at the break.  Albright build the lead back to 13 points early in the second and held a 53-42 lead before the Alvernia run.  The Crusaders snapped a two-game losing streak to the Lions with Tuesday's win and improved to 13-2 in the series between the two Reading-based rivals.

Velazquez finished with her first double-double of the season grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds, and freshman Allison Toczylowski (Mantua, N.J./Clearview Regional) finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.  Dillon, along with Annie McMahon led Albright with 18 points each, and Jess McGinness scored 14 for the hosts.

Albright scored the first seven points of the game as Alvernia started with an 0-for-7 cold streak and two turnovers.  The Lion lead hit double figures at 18-8 with 12:51 on the clock on a McMahon free throw and grew to 14 on two occasions over the next two minutes.

Alvernia cut that to 11 on a Velazquez jumper, but Albright answered with a 9-2 run led by five from McMahon for a 33-15 lead, the largest of the night, with eight minutes left in the half.  The lead was still 18 two minutes later before Graber hit her only 3 of the night and Lil Snyder (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) followed with the Crusaders' only other triple of the half to cut the gap to 12. 

Snyder, who came off the bench to spark the Crusaders' offense with 10 first-half points, hit a free throw and a jumper, and Velazquez did the same to cut 11 points off the 18-point lead.  

In the words of Head Coach Kevin Calabria, "Lil kept us in the game for the first half.  After the team's cold start it seemed like she came in and hit every shot."

In actuality she was 4-for-6, but by comparison the only Crusaders to shoot better than 50 percent in the half.

Albright was able to build the lead back to 12 with 1:35 left in the first half, but Alvernia scored the final four points to hit the break down eight, 41-33.

The start of the second half was a combined seven misses and six turnovers with no points over the first two and a half minutes before Albright broke through on a Jalene Warker 3-point play.  McIntyre answered with her first 3, but Albright came back with five straight for a 13-point lead.

Alvernia exchanged four free throws for two to trim the gap to 11, and freshman CeCe Buzzard (Willow Street, Pa./Solanco) hit a layup that started the Crusaders' deciding second-half run.  McIntyre's layup at 10:26 was the next bucket and she rattled off all each of Alvernia's next seven points; the last three on a play she set up in a timeout.

"She called the play in the timeout," said Calabria referring to his confident sophomore shooter.  "Joanna came off the screen and hit her, and bang, 3."

McIntyre's second of the day that cut the Albright lead to six, 57-51, with 9:01 to play.

"She's our key," said Calabria, "she and [Velazquez].  If we can get them to slow down from 190 to just 180 miles per hour we can be pretty good."

Alvernia will test that theory against a pretty good team this weekend when it faces Mary Washington, its third opponent from the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, on Saturday at the Swarthmore College Tournament.

Alvernia 74, Albright 69