MILWAUKEE -- Alverno College won its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opener, 58-55, Saturday night inside Reiman Gymnasium over visiting Concordia University Chicago.
The win was the first of the season for the Inferno (1-3, 1-0 NACC) and the first for Jessica Ott as head coach of Alverno.
The hosts trailed 55-54 with 1:31 to play before Donna Zehner scored on a put back to give the Inferno the one-point lead. The Cougars (2-1, 1-1) turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and were forced to foul.
Karli Selear made both free-throw attempts to increase the lead to 58-55 with 17 seconds left, and CUC missed a potential game-tying 3-point attempt on their next possession.
Alverno trailed by as many as 13 in the second quarter and trailed by 10 with five minutes to play in the third before closing out the quarter on a 17-2 run for a five-point cushion heading into the final period.
Mackenzie Mathies made one of her six 3-pointers early in the fourth for the Inferno's largest lead of the game at 49-40. The Cougars crawled back to take the 55-54 lead before Zehner and Selear scored the final four points of the contest.
Mathies led all scorers with a career-high 19 points as she connected on all of her 3s in the second half, a 6-of-10 performance in the period, and snagged seven rebounds. The six treys is tied for second most all-time in school history.
Four Inferno players scored seven points apiece for a balanced offensive attack -- Gabby Hood, Mollie Mikyska, Selear and Zehner. Hood added a game-best 13 rebounds to go along with six assists, two steals and a block, while Zehner and Katelyn Bartlett had nine and eight boards.
Courtney Lofink led Concordia Chicago with 13 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.
Alverno was able to overcome a dismal 6-of-32 shooting performance in the first half, in addition to a 5-of-1 mark from the free-throw line. The hosts made 42 percent from the field in the second half and were 6-of-10 from the line.
Next up for the Inferno is a Monday evening nonconference contest at Luther College. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in Decorah, Iowa.