MILWAUKEE -- Alverno College was unable to stop the potent offensive attack of the Dominican University Stars in an 86-71 Northern Athletics Conference loss tonight in Reiman Gymnasium.
The Stars led 45-29 at halftime, due to shooting a blistering 74 percent from the field, which included a 7-of-8 performance from the 3-point arc. Meanwhile the host Inferno shot just 32 percent from the field and only 1-of-10 from downtown in the opening period.
Alverno cut the lead to four points, 19-15, on a Kaitlin Schaeren (New Berlin, Wis./West) jumper with 9:31 remaining in the first half, but a quick 10-0 run by the Stars over the next 2:30 put the visitors up double-digits for the remainder of the game.
Dominican (10-5, 6-2 NAC) cooled down a bit in the second half, shooting just 65 percent from the floor and were just 3-of-7 from beyond the arc, but managed to hold off the Inferno's improved second-half shooting (48%).
Alverno's Alyssa Jensen (Cudahy, Wis.) led all scorers and set a career high with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 3-of-5 on 3-pointers. Amber Meka (Caledonia, Wis./Thomas More) also put up her career high with 14 points, while Hanna Galstad (Holmen, Wis.) and Alicia Kontowski (South Milwaukee, Wis.) chipped in 10 apiece for the Inferno.
Sarah Budz paced six Stars in double-digits with 18 points on a perfect night, 6-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, while dishing out a game-high six assists.
Alverno's Jamie Hoernke (Mount Horeb, Wis.) snagged a game-high eight rebounds, including six offensive boards, as the Inferno had the advantage on the glass, 31-27.
The two opponents also teamed up for the game, in an effort to raise awareness and donations for the upcoming Muscular Dystrophy Association Muscle Walk. In the MDA Muscle Walk Awareness Game, donations were raised via raffles and all money made by game admissions will be donated to the walk. Final totals were not yet available.
All money raised by the teams will be donated to team Rally for Reagan, in celebration of Reagan Imhoff, a six-year old that was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type II shortly after her first birthday. Reagan and her family (mother, Jenny and father, Joe) attended the game as special guests of the Inferno and Stars.
The Inferno (5-10, 2-7 NAC) takes on the MSOE Raiders this Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Kern Center downtown.
