Wilkes, Pa. (March 8, 2021) - First-year Taliyah Malone hit a go-ahead three in the final 20 seconds and senior Julia Ewen hit two game sealing free throws to give Alvernia University (3-2) its third straight win in a 75-70 win over Wilkes (1-5) in non-conference Women's Basketball action Monday night at Wilkes. 

The Golden Wolves jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on a 3-pointer from Kayla Williams just under a minute into the action, but the Colonels tied it up a minute later on a layup from Gabby Smicherko.

Alvernia regained the lead on a 3-pointer from Dee McCormick to make it 8-4 with 7:40 remaining. The Golden Wolves would extend their lead to as much as 17-9 on free throws from Madison Miskar, but Wilkes closed the quarter on a 5-2 run to cut Alvernia's lead to 19-14 going into the second.

The Colonels scored the opening points of the second quarter, a 3-pointer from Katelyn Kinczel, to come within two. 

Alvernia and Wilkes would trade baskets over the next five minutes before Wilkes tied it up at 24-24 on a jumper from Brenna Babcock with 3:08 left in the half.

A layup from Jordan Karmonick sparked a 10-0 run by the Golden Wolves that was capped off by a layup from Julia Ewen to extend Alvernia's lead to 34-24 with 54 seconds left in the half. Wilkes drained a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left to go to make it 34-27 going into the break.

A 3-pointer from Karmonick with 5:44 left in the third quarter gave Alvernia a 13 point lead, 52-39, but Wilkes began to chip away.

The Colonels went on a 12-3 run over the next four minutes to cut Alvernia's lead down to 55-51 with 1:16 remaining in the third quarter. Williams drained a three as time expired in the quarter to make it 58-51 going into the final ten minutes.

Wilkes came into the fourth quarter firing, going on a 9-1 run over the first three minutes and capping the run off with a game tying three from Kinczel to make it 60-60 with seven minutes to play.

Alvernia extended its lead back up to 65-60 after back-to-back jumpers by Karmonick and Cathryn Kramer, but Wilkes again tied it up, this time at 65-65, with 4:21 remaining.

The two teams would go back and forth over the next three minutes until Wilkes' Julia Marino converted a layup to tie it at 70-70 with 1:30 remaining.

After missed shots by both sides, Alvernia's Malone drained a three to give Alvernia the 73-70 advantage. Wilkes missed a 3-point shot and then fouled Ewen on the ensuing possession, sending the senior to the line. Ewen converted both free throw attempts with two seconds remaining to seal the 75-70 win for the Golden Wolves.

The Golden Wolves had five players reach double digit scoring, with Dee McCormick leading the way with 16 points. Julia Ewen picked up the 13 rebound, 11 point double-double, and Jordan Karmonick finished with 11 points and nine assists.

Wilkes' Maddie Kelly led the Colonels with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Alvernia returns to action on Thursday to open its final regular season series at Albright on Thursday and at Alvernia on Friday.  Both the Lions and the Golden Wolves sit at .500 in MAC Commonwealth play. Seedings for next week's MAC title game and crossover matchups are based on conference-only winning percentage. The top two seeds on each side of the MAC will play for the championship game, while the remaining seeds (No. 3-7) will be matched for a crossover game with the MAC Freedom.