BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Dec. 3, 2008) – Alvernia University (4-2, 1-0) totaled 50 second-half points and got a game and career-high 23 points from freshman forward CeCe Buzzard (Willow Street, Pa./Solanco) and 13 points and 11 boards from fellow freshman Allison Toczylowski (Mantua, N.J./Clearview Regional) in an 86-69 win over Delaware Valley (3-2, 0-1) in Freedom Conference women's basketball action at the Physical Education Center Wednesday evening. 

Buzzard tallied 17 of her 23 points after the halftime break and Toczylowski snared 13 boards in the second half as the Crusaders turned a four-point halftime deficit into a 17-point victory in their home-opener and first ever conference game in their new league. 

Sophomore guard Kelli McIntyre (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain), who also reached double figures with 18 points, scored a bucket in the paint three and a half minutes into the second half to give Alvernia a 44-42 lead, an advantage it never relinquished. 

She scored seven straight during an 8-0 run that gave the hosts their first double-digit lead, 54-44 with 13:30 to play, and Buzzard scored five points during a five minute run that ended with Alvernia up 13, 67-54 with eight minutes to play. 

DVC quickly trimmed the gap to four points with a 9-0 spurt led by junior guard Kim Vennera (Norristown, Pa./Kennedy-Kenrick) who went for seven of her team-high 19 in the two minute sprint. 

Buzzard scored three times in the paint over the next two minutes as the Crusaders built the lead back to a comfortable margin, 74-63 with just over four to go. 

DVC closed to nine points twice in the last four minutes but got no closer. Aggie senior Mandi Wilson (Brookhaven, Pa./Sun Valley) joined Vennera in double figures with 16 points off the bench on 7-of-10 shooting. Alvernia sophomore Lil Snyder (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter Strasburg) scored 14 points in 17 minutes off the Crusader bench. 

Both teams started the game shooting well posting a combined 31 points on the board in just over five minutes. Alvernia freshman Julie Hahn (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) hit a 3 at 14:22, the second for the hosts in the early going, and DVC held a slim one-point lead, 16-15. 

The Aggies pushed the lead to four points on a Brittany Battinieri (Eddystone, Pa./Ridley) 3 at 12:52 and expanded that to six points, 21-15, their largest lead of the half on a Wilson jumper. 

McInytre cut that gap in half with her first 3 of the night and three minutes later hit a baseline floater to give the Crusaders a 24-23 lead, their first of the game. 

Delaware Valley took the lead back with four straight points including its fourth of five first-half 3s, and again pushed the lead to five points, 33-28 with 3:52 on the clock. Alvernia freshman Kayla Long (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Central) and junior Joanna Graber (Manalapan, N.J./Notre Dame) scored back-to-back to cut it to one, and Buzzard's putback gave the lead back to the Crusaders. 

It was short-lived again with Wilson converting a three-point play and Stephanie Kraemer (Pitman, N.J./Pitman) knocking down a jumper to put the Aggies back up four. The lead went to five on a Kraemer free throw, and Alvernia senior Michelle Lutzkanin (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) hit 1-of-2 from the stripe for the 40-36 halftime margin. 

Alvernia will return to action Saturday at Manhattanville. 

Alvernia 86, Delaware Valley 69