BOX SCORE
Reading, Pa. (Feb. 16, 2010) - "Defense," said Alvernia University head coach
Kevin Calabria. "It's all about defense."
The Crusaders' (14-8, 8-4) defense allowed them to build a 17-0 lead while the offense clicked for 80 points in an 80-61 win at Albright College (8-15, 4-9) Tuesday evening in Commonwealth Conference women's basketball action at the Bollman Center.
The Lions went 0-for-9 from the floor plus a pair of misses from the free throw line, and committed four turnovers over the first six-plus minutes while the Crusaders hit 7-of-10 and built an insurmountable lead.
Sophomore center
Angela Altemose (Pottsville, Pa./Nativity BVM) led the way with six of the Crusaders first 17 points. The Lions scored their first bucket with 13:08 left in the first half, but trailed by 15.
Albright junior Jess McGinness scored five of the next 16 for the hosts as they trimmed the gap to nine points, 26-17 with 5:58 on the first half clock, but Alvernia pushed it back to 15 points at the break, 42-27.
The Alvernia lead was 13 points midway through the second half when the Crusaders pounded it inside scoring each of the next four buckets in the paint while pushing the lead to 19 points, 65-46.
"I think we were strong inside," Calabria said of his post advantage. " We've been playing well inside. The strategy was to get the ball inside."
Allie Toczylowski (Mantua, N.J./Clearview Regional),
Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township), and
Joanna Graber (Manalapan, N.J./Notre Dame) all scored on layups as the Crusaders started to pull away. Velazquez finished with a team-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Toczylowski was efficient in 13 minutes going 6-for-8 from the floor for 12 points.
The second half lead grew to as many as 26 points, and Albright scored 10 of the last 13 for the final margin.
The Crusaders finish the regular season with home games against the top two teams in the league Messiah College (9-2) on Thursday and Lebanon Valley (12-1) on Saturday.
"We'll see how good we really are in these next few games," Calabria said after Tuesday's win.
Alvernia has qualified for the four-team Commonwealth playoffs which begin with semifinal action next Wednesday at the top two seeds.
Alvernia 80, Albright 61
