Reading, Pa. (Feb. 4, 2023) - Albright College (15-7, 9-4) completed a ten-point second half comeback to edge Alvernia University (14-8, 9-4) with a 57-56 win over the Golden Wolves on Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth women's basketball action at Albright.

The Golden Wolves led by as 14 in the first half and took a ten point lead into the second half. The Lions went on to outscore Alvernia 33-22 in the final 20 minutes as the Lions came away with the one point win.

With the loss, Alvernia drops to 9-4 in MAC Commonwealth play. They are now tied with the Lions at second place at 9-4. Alvernia won the first meeting of the two teams back in December.

The Lions took the opening possession right down the floor for a layup, but Alvernia answered with a three from Taliyah Malone. After a scoreless two minutes, the Golden Wolves took a 5-2 lead on a Malone jumper. A Tamia Wessels made it a 6-2 game with 6:50 to play in the quarter, but the Lions then went on a 9-4 run over the next 2:30 to take an 11-10 lead on the Golden Wolves.

A Malone layup gave Alvernia back the lead, 12-11, and, a minute later, a Kayla Williams three gave Alvernia the 15-13 advantage.

Williams' three sparked an 8-2 run for Alvernia to close out the first frame. Williams added another three and Cathryn Kramer hit a driving layup as Alvernia took a 20-15 lead into the second quarter.

The Golden Wolves continued to push to open up the second quarter. Wessels opened the second quarter scoring with a putback layup on Alvernia's first possession of the quarter. Layups from Kramer and Wessels pushed Alvernia's lead to double-digits, 26-15, with 7:39 to play in the half. 

The Lions scored their first points of the second quarter on a layup with 6:39 to go in the quarter, but Alvernia responded with a Jordan Karmonick three to keep the game at double-digits, 29-17. 

Wessels hit a layup to give Alvernia a 14 point advantage, 31-17, at the midpoint of the quarter. 

Alvernia was held to just three points the rest of the quarter - on a Karmonick three - but was able to hold the Lions to just seven points as Alvernia took a 10 point advantage, 34-24, into the half.

Alvernia came into the second half opening the scoring with a Karmonick layup to make it a 12 point game, 36-24.

The Lions responded and hit a layup of their own to bring it back down to a 10 point game. 

Alvernia held onto its 10 point lead for the next nearly five minutes via a made free throw by Kramer and two made free throws by Karmonick.

The Lions cut it down to a nine point game on a layup and and-one free throw, and made it a six point game on a Mackenzie Dover jumper with 3:28 to play in the third. A layup by Kramer with 3:07 to play in the quarter marked Alvernia's first field goal in six minutes to make it an eight point game, 41-33. But, the Lions cut it down to a two point contest, 41-39, with 1:42 to play in the third frame.

The Lions evened it up at 41-41 with 13 seconds left and the game nearly went into the fourth quarter with the tie. But, Alvernia's Meghan Ruth was fouled as the buzzer sounded and Ruth went to the line for untimed free throws. She made one of her two opportunities to give Alvernia the one point lead, 42-41, going into the final ten minutes.

The Lions took the lead on a Orianna Edmonds putback layup to open the quarter. Alvernia retook the lead on a Williams free throw and layup, and pushed it to a four point lead, 47-43, on a pair of made free throws by Malone.

Alvernia held onto the narrow lead for the next three minutes until Albright's Amina Rauf knocked down a three to give the Lions the 53-51 advantage with 3:59 to play.

Alvernia responded and Malone matched Albright's 3-pointer with one of her own to give Alvernia back the one point advantage, 54-53.

The Golden Wolves and Lions traded layups on the next two possessions, but a Gabby Boggs layup with 1:24 to play gave the Lions the 57-56 lead.

Alvernia missed a layup on its next possession. Kramer forced a block on Albright's next possession to keep it a one point game, and Malone picked up a defensive board to get Alvernia the ball back with 15 seconds to play.

Alvernia called a timeout and came out of the huddle with Malone going in for a layup to put Alvernia back ahead. But, Boggs blocked Malone to keep Alvernia off the board. The Golden Wolves picked up the offensive rebound and called another timeout to regroup with three seconds to play. Both Williams and Kramer were able to get off a shot in the final second, but neither could get their opportunity to fall as the Lions came away with the narrow 57-56 win.

Malone finished with a team-high 16 points. Karmonick finished with ten points and nine boards.

Alvernia is back in action on Wednesday at home against Messiah University. The golden Wolves fell to Messiah 56-48 in the first meeting of the year.