Reading, Pa. (Dec. 3, 2016) – The Crusaders' fourth quarter charge came up just short as Alvernia University (0-6, 0-2) fell 56-50 to Lebanon Valley College (4-3, 2-0) in MAC Commonwealth Women's Basketball action Saturday afternoon on Jack McCloskey Court.

Trailing 51-34 in the midst of an 18-3 Dutchmen run with five minutes remaining in regulation, Liv Andrefski buried back-to-back 3's after netting the Crusaders only points during the LVC run to bring Alvernia within 11. Kiersten Ingram followed up Andreski with consecutive buckets of her own, finishing on a fast break and draining her second of the day from beyond the arc to close the gap 51-45 with just under two minutes left.  

The Dutchmen tacked on two insurance points to hold a 53-45 advantage, but Andrefski kept up the Crusaders' fight, making a pair from the line with 36 seconds to go. The junior came up clutch again in the final 10 seconds, drawing contact from Lebanon Valley's Hilary Yoh on a 3-point shot attempt and putting away the trio of foul shots to bring the game within a possession, 53-50.

However, with Alvernia forced to foul due to time, LVC kept the contest out of reach making 3-of-4 from the line.

The Crusaders opened the contest within an early lead, holding an 8-4 advantage off an Abbie Zerbe 3. The Dutchmen worked out of the hole to hold a 14-11 margin at the end of the first quarter, and back-and-forth scoring pushed the contest to a 22-17 difference at the half.

LVC used the start of the third to extend its lead 31-22, but the Crusaders closed the quarter with a four minute 7-0 run fueled by a jumper and a 3 from Ingram before Cooped laid in the final shot at the buzzer to bring Alvernia with in two entering the fourth quarter.

"We've grown up a lot in our past six games," noted Coach Cook. "We're playing hard. We're practicing hard. We're getting better every single day. Today we got to play at home for only the second time this year. It's pretty cool that we get to show our home crowd that kind of progression."

Andrefski dominated on offense for the Crusaders, netting a season and career-high 25 points. Ingram also had a double-digit day, adding 10. Miranda Hoover pulled down 13 boards, matching her career-high.

"Liv had one heck of an afternoon. That's what we need – our leaders stepping up and digging in. The girls believe in and trust each other. They know that it's a process and all of this allows them to create opportunities for each other."

Alvernia will have a week to rest, resuming action on Saturday, December 10^th when the Crusaders travel to Messiah College for MAC Commonwealth action starting at 3:00 p.m.