BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Jan. 25, 2014) – Lebanon Valley College (14-3, 8-2) scored six of the final seven points of the game to survive an upset bid from Alvernia University (6-11, 2-8) Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Conference women's basketball action at Jack McCloskey Court.

Sophomore guard Stevie Fortna (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon Catholic) was a perfect 5-for-5 from the 3-point line and nailed her final triple of the day with 3:50 left to put the Crusaders up two, 60-58.

Lebanon Valley answered with two free throws from Caitlin Bach to tie the score at 60-all then after an Alvernia free throw Bach found Lexie Lantz for a backdoor layup and Lauren Ruhl hit a driving runner for the final margin.

"We can compete with anybody in this league," said Alvernia head coach Kevin Calabria after the game.  "We just have to close out games.  I didn't think we executed in the last two minutes of the game and that was costly."

Alvernia shot 42 percent from the floor and 58 percent from the 3-point arc, but missed its final four shots over the last four minutes.

"Stevie came out and had a great game," said Calabria.  "She made shots, she took a charge.  I'm probably more proud of her taking the charge than making 5 3s.  In order for us to get where we want to go we have to find a way to win these games."

Alvernia held a 4-point lead early in the game and after the fourth tie of the day at 17-all, Lebanon Valley went on a 15-4 run to push ahead by 11 with 1:09 left in the half.  Bach scored five points during the run and finished with a game-high 26.

Alvernia cut it down to eight points by the half and faced the same deficit five minutes into the second half when a bucket from Tyra Roberts (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) started an 11-3 run that tied the game at 44-all with 10:54 to play.

Fortna and fellow sophomore Chelsea Ebersole (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra) hit 3s during the run, and junior Kaitlyn Yoh (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser) finished it with a 3-point play.

LVC broke the tie with five straight points and held a 4-point lead, 58-54 with 4:53 to play when Fortna hit back-to-back 3s—the second giving the Crusaders the late 2-point lead.

Alvernia had two chances to tie the score in the final 25 seconds, but Ebersole missed from the arc and Taylor Eckley (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville) missed a baseline jumper from just inside the line.

Fortna led the Crusaders with 15 points, Yoh had 14, and Roberts and Ebersole had 10 each.  Lantz joined Bach in double figures with 11 for the Dutchmen.

Alvernia continues the conference schedule Wednesday at Lycoming.

Lebanon Valley 64, Alvernia 61