St. David's, Pa. (Feb. 1, 2023) - Alvernia University (14-7, 9-3) came out on top of a low scoring affair as the Golden Wolves came away with a 47-38 win over Eastern University (4-15, 2-9) on Wednesday night in MAC Commonwealth women's basketball action at Eastern.

Eastern's 38 points is the least amount of points Alvernia has allowed in a game since a 61-34 win over Penn College in November of 2019.

It took four and a half minutes for either team to strike, but the Eagles struck first with a driving layup for a 2-0 lead with 5:30 to play in the first quarter.

A minute later, Alvenria got on the board with a Jordan Karmonick three as Alvernia took the lead, 3-2, with 4:32 to play in the first. The Eagles evened it up 20 seconds later after going one-for-two from the free throw line, and Alvernia retook the 4-3 lead on a one-for-two attempt at the line for Cathryn Kramer with 3:25 to go in the quarter.

A jumper from Meghan Ruth off the pass of Jordyn Ingelido gave Alvernia the 6-3 lead, but the Eagles matched it with a jumper of their own to turn it back into a one point game, 6-5, with 2:00 to go in the quarter.

Both teams went the rest of the quarter without a field goal as the final point of the opening frame came off a made free throw by Tamia Wessels to make it a 7-5 game going into the second quarter.

40 seconds into the second quarter, Eastern hit a jumper to open the second quarter scoring and even the game up at 7-7. The back and forth continued as Alvernia retook the lead at 9-7 on a Kayla Williams layup following an Eastern turnover. But, the Eagles had a putback layup two possessions later to even it up at 9-9 with 7:41 to play in the half.

Just under two minutes later, Karmonick hit her second 3-pointer of the night to give Alvernia a 12-9 lead with just under six minutes to play in the half.

Alvernia made it a five point game, 14-9, on its next possession as Nicole Etchison hit a putback layup with 4:49 to play in the quarter.

The Eagles got back within three, 14-11, with a layup off an Alvernia turnover. But, Alvernia responded with a Kramer layup and a third three from Karmonick to give an Alvernia an eight point lead, 19-11, with 3:04 to go in the quarter.

Alvernia tacked another two onto its run with Ingelido hitting a layup off a Kramer steal to give Alvernia its first double-digit lead of the night, 21-11.

A made free throw by the Eagles marked the final point of the half as Alvernia took a 21-12 lead going into the break.

The Eagles started the second half on a 5-2 run in the opening 45 seconds as Eastern got within six, 23-17, with 9:15 on the clock. Alvernia's two points game off a driving layup from Taliyah Malone on Alvernia's first possession of the half.

For as quickly as the scoring was at the start of the half, both teams went cold for the next nearly four minutes. Eastern called a timeout and came out of the huddle and scored four quick points to get within two of the Golden Wolves, 23-21, at the midpoint of the third quarter.
Both teams continued to struggle to find any kind of rhythm until Alvernia's six minute scoring drought came to an end as Jennah DeGout scored on a putback layup to make it a 25-21 game. Ruth then scored a layup on Alvernia's next possession to push Alvernia's lead back to six, 27-21.

A hard layup by the Eastern's Taryn Woodson, followed by an ensuing and-one free throw, brought Eastern back within one possession, 27-24, with 2:13 to play in the third. Malone then drew the fourth foul by Eastern's Jeriyah Johnson and Malone converted one free throw to make it a four point game, 28-24. Kramer then made a jumper off an Eastern turnover to push it back to a six point lead, 30-24.

Alvernia forced another Eastern turnover on the next Eagle possession and Alvernia capitalized as Malone knocked down a three to push Alvernia's lead to 33-24 with just under a minute to play in the third quarter.

The Golden Wolves and Eagles matched jumpers to close out the third quarter as Alvernia took a 35-26 lead into the final frame.

Malone found Kramer under the basket to open the fourth quarter scoring and bring Alvernia's lead up to 11, 37-26. A driving layup from Williams gave Alvernia its largest lead so far as Alvernia went up 39-26 on the Eagles with 8:15 to play.

The Eagles made two free throws with 7:44 to play to bring Alvernia's lead back down to 11, 39-28.

Alvernia continued to hold the Eagles without a field goal in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter as Tamia Wessels hit a three off the feed of Karmonick to make it a 14 point game, 42-28.

The Eagles converted two more free throws at the 6:00 mark on the clock, but Alvernia continued to hold Eastern without a field goal as Alvernia took a 12 point lead into the final six minutes.

Just past the midway point of the final quarter, Williams knocked down a three as the Golden Wolves scored three more points off an Eastern turnover and took a 15 point lead, 45-30.

The Eagles hit their first field goal of the fourth quarter on their next possession to make it a 13 point game, 45-32.

The two teams traded field goals on their next possessions as Alvernia held onto a 13 point lead going into the final three and a half minutes.

Alvernia continued to hold the 13 point lead into the final 90 seconds as both teams went scoreless again for a two minute block.

The Eagles ended the scoring drought with a jumper with 1:14 to go to get within 11, 47-36. The Eagles added another two to get back within single digits, 47-38 with 32 seconds to play. But, Alvernia's lead was too much for the Eagles to overcome. 

Alvernia ran the shot clock out as the Golden Wolves came away with the 47-38 win.

Both Karmonick and Kramer finished with nine points each. Kramer also led Alvernia with seven rebounds and four steals. Eastern finished the night with 24 turnovers, and Alvernia capitalized on the Eagle errors and scored 26 of its 47 points off of Eastern turnovers.

Alvernia is back in action on Saturday at Albright as the Golden Wolves continue to sit in second place in MAC Commonwealth action with the Lions sitting right behind in third.