MILWAUKEE -- The Alverno College women's basketball team trailed the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors 9-0 in the all-time series but nearly broke the winless streak tonight at the Recreation Complex on the WLC campus falling to the hosts 88-85 in double overtime.

"One of our keys tonight was to play 40 minutes of good Alverno basketball," Alverno head coach Brad Duckworth said. "And we had to end up doing it for 50 minutes tonight. It was a heavyweight fight, and I wouldn't say we got knocked out, I think we lost on a judges' decision. We played a good basketball game, we just didn't win."

After several lead changes and 26 combined turnovers, Alverno (2-3, 1-1 Northern Athletics Conference) would find itself in an unfamiliar situation at the end of the first period--in the lead. The Inferno have led at the break in only one of their previous four games this season--a win over Lawrence University on opening night.

The Inferno would build a 29-20 lead with 6 minutes, 28 seconds to go in the first half, but Wisconsin Lutheran, the defending NAC South Division champions, would use a 10-0 run to regain the lead over the next 3 minutes at 30-29. The remaining 3 minutes in the half would go the Inferno's way, holding WLC (1-3, 1-0 NAC) to just one free throw the for remainder of the half taking a 37-31 advantage to intermission, despite giving up 19 offensive rebounds to the host Warriors.

"We're playing a lot of freshman, and (rebounding) is coming along," Duckworth said. "It's not due to lack of knowledge, it's due to lack of instinct. We're getting better night by night. We'll get there."

Alverno shot 56 percent from the field in the first period, including a 4-of-7 performance from the 3-point arc. Junior guard Gabby Allen (Milwaukee, Wis./Bay View) led the Inferno with 12 first half points, and finished with a team-high 21 points on 7-of-19 shooting, but was only 5-of-10 from the free throw line.

In the second half Alverno would increase their lead to 10 points on a 3-point basket by sophomore guard Alicia Kontowski (South Milwaukee, Wis.). Yet again the Warriors would fight back cutting the lead to one at 13:30, and again at 10:58.

A minute later WLC would take a one point lead on a pair of free throws by Whitney Miller (Germantown, Wis./Kettle Moraine Lutheran) for its first lead of the game since 3 minutes remaining in the first half. Miller would finish the game with a game-high 30 points, and was a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line.

Alverno would regain the lead on the next possession on a put-back by Rachel Diedrich (Two Rivers, Wis.), who recorded her third career double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds, while blocking five shots.

The Inferno would increase their lead to seven points with just less than 7 minutes to play, but the Warriors would fight back, again cutting the lead to one on a pair of free throws by Miller. Over the next few possessions Alverno would go 1-of-4 from the free throw line keeping the door open for the Warriors.

The Warriors would tie the game 26 seconds remaining in regulation, and Allen's jumper with 5 seconds to go was off target, prompting for overtime.

Alverno would take a three point lead in the first overtime with 22 seconds left, but Diedrich would foul Miller on a 3-point attempt with 3 seconds remaining, giving the Warriors a chance to tie from the foul line. Diedrich fouled out of the game, and Miller would connect on all three, forcing a second extra period.

Shataya McComb (Kingston, N.Y.) would lead the Inferno in the second overtime, scoring 10 of her 12 points in the period, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Warriors' free throw shooting down the stretch, for the 88-85 final.

Senior guard Lisa Sorgi (Milwaukee, Wis./Greenfield), the school's all-time leading scorer, was held scoreless until 2:49 left in regulation, scoring on a free throw for her only point of the game. Sorgi fouled out of the game in regulation, recording five rebounds and an assist in the contest.

"Lisa's a great player and she does a lot of great things," Duckworth said. "But she didn't have a great night. Yet tonight was a great team effort. Everybody played and we had lot of people in double-digit minutes. We needed other people to make plays and I thought we did that."

The Inferno had four players foul out of the game--all starters--forcing the Alverno coaching staff to rely heavily on their bench in the extra periods.

"It was a real physical game, and we unfortunately came out on the bottom end of it," Duckworth said. "It's not something we're worried about. We just kept going deeper in the bench, and kept getting plays from people."

Wisconsin Lutheran won the rebounding battle 66-48 with 33 offensive rebounds, and committed 23 turnovers to the Inferno's 28.

Freshman guard Kelsey Kochanowski (Oak Creek, Wis.) was the fourth Inferno player in double-figures with 12 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field.

Kontowski would finish two points shy of doubles with eight points, while freshman Kayla Kennedy (Trempealeau, Wis./G-E-T) and sophomore Amber Meka (Caledonia, Wis./Thomas More) each added six points.

The Inferno will again hit the road on Saturday to face the defending NAC North Division champion, Concordia University Wisconsin at 2 p.m. The Falcons defeated the Inferno 70-64 just two weeks ago in a rare nonconference game between the two conference teams on a neutral court in the consolation game of the Lake Forest College tournament.