MILWAUKEE -- The Alverno College Inferno lost their home opener to visiting Northland College 58-56 in overtime in game two of the 2010 Alverno Tip-Off Classic at Reiman Gymnasium in Milwaukee on Friday night. Buena Vista University defeated Bethany Lutheran College 80-71 in the opening game of the Classic.

Senior Gabby Allen (Milwaukee/Bay View) tied the game at 56-56 with 8.9 seconds remaining in overtime, but Northland's Sam Stanfield was fouled with 1.5 seconds left on a drive to the left side of the lane and connected on both free throw attempts to pull out the road win over the Inferno (0-2).

In regulation, Northland (1-0) led 49-44 with 26 seconds remaining, but senior Shataya McComb (Kingston, N.Y.) was fouled behind the 3-point arc and was awarded three free throws with 16 seconds on the clock. She connected on all three, cutting the deficit to two.

The Inferno quickly fouled Northland's Maria Mackey who hit one-of-two free throws to extend the lead to three. Alyssa Jensen (Cudahy, Wis.) found an open McComb at the 3-point line who buried the long-ball to send the game to overtime.

Free throws proved to be the difference in the extra period as the visiting LumberJills scored six of their eight overtime points from the line (6-of-9) while the Inferno were 0-for-2--both front-end bonus attempts.

Alverno head coach Brad Duckworth hopes his team still came away with something positive from the game tonight.

"The one thing I did tell our club that we can walk away with from this game is 'you can never, not believe me when I look you in the eye with 4 minutes to go, down 11, and tell you that you're capable of winning a game against a good team,' " Duckworth said. " 'Northland is a good team; they went to the national tournament last year. You can believe that. You did it. You should have won tonight; you had a chance to win it.' "

McComb led all scorers with 22 points, which was also her career-high at Alverno, and added a team-high seven rebounds and four steals.

Allen chipped in 12 points and had a team-high three assists. Rookie point guard Kristen Speerschneider (New Franken, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) was 3-of-7 from the 3-point arc and added nine points.

The LumberJills were led offensively by Marian Mackey with 20 points, and Laura Fisher grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds--all defensive.

In the first game of the Classic, eight players scored in double figures as the victorious Beavers (1-1) were led by Jocelyn Kock (19 points) while Jess Christensen recorded a double-double with 17 points and 17 rebounds.

The Vikings (0-2) were led by Nicole Jones (19 points) and Anna Cepek (18 points.)

Buena Vista will face Northland tomorrow at 1 p.m. and Alverno will take on Bethany Lutheran at 3 p.m.