MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A win tonight could have brought the Edgewood College women's basketball team closer to the number two seed in the Northern Athletics Conference but foul trouble sent the Eagles to their third straight loss. Edgewood College was plagued with 23 fouls and Alverno College fought off a last minute Eagle rally to come away with a 63-57 victory.
Mariah Hill provided an early spark for Edgewood College (9-11, 8-5 NAC) scoring five points on the Eagles first two possessions. Edgewood College continued their strong start and built a 13-4 lead thanks to three different Eagles who converted baskets. Alverno College (12-6, 9-2 NAC) did not back down as they scored the next six points, cutting the Eagles lead to three. Edgewood College pushed their lead back to seven after a pair of baskets by Danielle Dixon. With just under 11 minutes to play in the half, the Inferno used an 8-2 run over the next five minutes to tie the contest at 20. After swapping baskets, the Inferno's Ashley Berry converted pair of free throws to give Alverno a two-point cushion at the break.
Coming out of the locker room, the Inferno's defense held the Eagles to only three points in the first five minutes before Hill nailed a three-point basket and Dareon Henderson converted a jumper to bring Edgewood College within two. Kelsey Collinsthen drilled a triple to give the Eagles their first lead of the game since the 5:38 mark in the first half. The Inferno battled back and used a pair of free throws and back-to-back jumpers to extend their lead to six before foul trouble setback the Eagles. Six out of Alverno's next eight points came from the free throw line following Edgewood College fouls and the Eagles quickly found themselves down by 12 with 1:29 remaining. Rachel Pope knocked down the next six Eagle points from beyond the arc, bringing Edgewood College within nine with 44 seconds to play. After another free throw by Alverno, Collins connected on a triple and Chelsey Watkins converted a free throw, bringing Edgewood College's deficit to six, but the rally came up just short as only 11 seconds remained on the clock and the Eagles fell to the Inferno for the second time this season.
The Eagles held an impressive 49-33 advantage in the rebound column but only managed to shoot 31.8 percent from the floor while allowing the Inferno to hit 40.8 percent of their shots from the field. The Eagles heated up in the second half from beyond the arc, knocking down six of their 11 attempts (54.6 percent), but sent the Inferno to the charity stripe 32 times which proved to be a dagger.
Alison Tobin paced the Eagles with 16 points and 11 rebounds in her fourth double-double of the season. The senior also dished out a career-high five assists. Pope added eight points while Watkins pulled down eight rebounds for Edgewood College.
The Eagles will try to end their three game skid as the travel to Dominican University this Saturday. Tipoff against the Stars is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Live stats and live video will be available. Links for this coverage can be found atEdgewoodCollegeEagles.com.