BOX SCORE

Elizabethtown, Pa. (Dec. 2, 2009) – Perhaps Alvernia University center Angela Altemose (Pottsville, Pa./Nativity BVM) put it best with her one word answer an hour after helping Crusaders (3-1, 1-0) beat Elizabethtown College (1-4, 0-1), 56-62 in overtime in the Commonwealth Conference opener for both teams.

“Determination,” said the 6-0 sophomore simply explaining how she grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds while fighting the lingering effects of a cold that's lasted better than a week.

“We weren't going to lose,” she continued.

The Blue Jays erased a 13-point first-half deficit six minutes into the second half and nailed a game-tying 3 in the final seconds to force the extra frame, but Altemose and the Crusaders held Etown off the board for all but the last seven seconds of the overtime period to salt away the win.

“Tenacity is what we do,” relayed head coach Kevin Calabria in a post game interview. “Going into overtime we said we gotta go man-to-man and execute on offense. We have to buckle down on defense and rebound.”

Senior guard Joanna Graber (Manalapan, N.J./Notre Dame) was the first to execute on offense in overtime hitting a jumper 1:20 in that put the Crusaders up to stay. Junior forward Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) followed with five straight points and finished with a game-high 17.

Alvernia tore out of the gate with a 19-8 lead midway through the first half. Junior guard Lil Snyder (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) led the way knocking down both of her 3s in the opening stretch.

“Lil kept us in it,” said Calabria. “She hit the big shots while [Graber] and Anna Wengert (Annville, Pa./Lebanon Catholic) led us defensively.”

Wengert and Graber combined to hold Etown's leading scorer, junior Megan Strohman to two points in the first half after she came in averaging 19.

Strohman was quiet in the first, but was certainly heard from late in the second half.

Etown closed a 24-11 deficit down to 29-21 at the half and was on the short end of a 54-51 scored with the shot clock off in the final seconds of regulation.

“We wanted to switch everything out top,” said Calabria explaining the team's defensive approach on the last possession. “We got a little lost on the second screen, but credit [Strohman] for hitting a tough shot.”

The 5-4 lefty finished the night just 5-for-21, but found a seam between Snyder and sophomore Jenny Bonifant (Mount Airy, Md./Linganore) at the left elbow to send the game into overtime.

Snyder finished the night with 13 points and Altemose had nine points to go with her game-high 15 boards. Strohman ended with 11 for the Jays and junior forward Kaity Snyder scored 14 points and grabbed a team-high 14 boards.

Alvernia returns home to continue the conference schedule hosting Albright College Saturday for the first ever conference doubleheader between the two schools. Game times are 1:00 p.m. for the women's game and 3:00 for the men's.

Alvernia 62, Elizabethtown 56 (OT)