Balance and effort pay off for Edgewood College with 60-50 win over Inferno

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MADISON, Wis. - "Play hard," was Edgewood College head women's basketball coach Casey Thousand's message to her players going into the Eagles' game against Alverno College. In fact, on her pregame locker room board, "play hard" was three of her four keys to the game. The Eagles answered with a strong, consistent effort and delivered a 60-50 victory over the Inferno to move back above .500 in Northern Athletics Conference play.

Edgewood College (5-8, 4-3 NAC) took the message to heart, led by the three-headed attack of Alison Tobin, Melanie Walker and Mariah Hill. Those three players combined for all 24 of the Eagles points in the first half. Edgewood College opened an early 12-4 lead, thanks to three-pointers from Hill and Walker. Alverno College (5-9, 2-6 NAC) answered with three three-pointers of their own, two by Alicia Kontowski and one from Anna Boteva, to take a 13-12 lead.

From there, the lead never reached higher than three points for either team for the rest of the half. Hill ultimately gave the Eagles a 24-23 halftime lead thanks to a three-point play in the final 10 seconds of the half.

Three scorers wouldn't be enough to beat the Inferno, however, and the Eagles received key contributions from others in the second half. First, it was Jenna Coenen who buried a three-pointer to give Edgewood College a 37-29 lead with 12:30 left to play. After Alverno rattled off eight straight points to tie the game, Coenen sunk a jumper in the paint to put the Eagles back ahead.

Alverno had tied the game at 43 with six minutes to play, when Dareon Henderson stepped up her game. Henderson twice broke ties, first with a pair of free throws and then with a 15-foot jump shot. After a Tobin three-point basket, Henderson scored inside again and the Eagles held a 52-45 lead with three minutes to go. Down the stretch the Eagles called on Allison Novitske to ice the game at the free throw line. Novitske made three of four free throws in the last 40 seconds, including the final two points of the game to seal the Eagles 60-50 victory.

The Eagles crushed the Inferno on the glass to the tune of a 43-23 rebounding advantage. They also turned 23 Alverno fouls into 22 points at the free throw line, compared to eight charity stripe points for the Inferno.

Tobin led the Eagles with a season-high 18 points, on 6-for-11 shooting, and grabbed eight rebounds. Walker notched her third double-double of the season and established a new career-high in rebounds, scoring 12 points and ripping down 12 rebounds, all on the defensive end. Hill tallied 13 points and made a pair of three-point baskets. Henderson finished with eight points, all in the second half, while Coenen had six points and a game-high three blocked shots.

Alverno was led by Kontowski, who drilled five three-point baskets on eight attempts and finished with a game-high 22 points. Hannah Galstad had 10 points, while Jamie Hoernke led the Inferno with 10 rebounds.

With three games on the schedule this week, Edgewood College gets precious little time to enjoy the win. The Eagles will travel to Coach Thousand's alma mater Lakeland College on Thursday and then return home for an afternoon contest with Rockford College on Saturday.