Reading, Pa. (Jan. 4, 2020) - Alvernia University (6-6, 1-3) led wire-to-wire to earn its first MAC Commonwealth win since January 2017 with a 61-51 win over Hood College (0-3, 4-8) on Saturday afternoon at Alvernia University's Jack McCloskey Court. 

"Overall, I was very pleased with our play today," said Head Coach Rayne Reber, who took over the program back in May. "It meant a lot to the girls because they've lost 41 straight conference games, and they really feel like they've changed the mentality of this program."

Alvernia's last MAC Commonwealth win came over Hood College back on January 25, 2017, when they defeated Hood, 79-75. 

The Golden Wolves came out on a hot start, jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead off of two Julia Ewen field goals. 

The Blazers responded to make it 6-4 with 7:37 left in the first quarter, but the Golden Wolves would close out the quarter on a 10-4 run to go into the second quarter with a 16-8 lead. 

Alvernia extended its lead to 14 points with 3:55 left in the first half after Abbie Zerbe knocked down a three. 

The Golden Wolves would only score three points in the final 3:55 of the half as the Blazers cut Alvernia's lead down to 31-23 going into the break.

Coming out of the half, Alvernia's offense went cold. The Golden Wolves did not score a point for over five minutes, and the Blazers took advantage. 

Hood scored seven points while Alvernia's offense struggled to cut the lead all the way down to just one point at 31-30.

Gabriella De Vito jump started Alvernia's offense with a jumper with 4:33 left in the quarter, and Amber Orban followed that with a layup on Alvernia's next possession. 

Following a turnover by the Blazers, Orban converted a layup to put Alvernia up by five, and Cathryn Kramer closed out the third quarter for the Golden Wolves with a layup of her own to put the Golden Wolves up by seven heading into the final frame.

The Blazers got within four points with 1:49 remaining, but the Golden Wolves made eight of nine free throw attempts in the final 1:36 to seal the 61-51 win. 

Alvernia had four players reach double digit points in the win. De Vito and Kramer each finished with 11 points, and Orban and Ewen each finished with ten points. Ewen picked up a double-double with a career-high 18 rebounds. Torie Zerbe finished the game with 10 rebounds and nine points. Abbie Zerbe finished with eight points for the Golden Wolves.

"In order for us to have success, we need Julia and Torie to own the boards. We know they are capable of doing it, but in order to pull off wins they need to do it every night," said Reber of Ewen and Zerbe's rebounding efforts.

The Golden Wolves return to Jack McCloskey court on Wednesday when they host Stevenson University, who sit 0-4 in MAC Commonwealth play.

"It's good to get over that hump [of the first conference win]...but we've got many more games we need to prepare for," added Reber. "I don't think these girls are satisfied with just one conference [win]. I know that they want more than just one. We are going to learn from our mistakes tonight, and continue to grow so that we can get more than just one."