MILWAUKEE -- For the first time in program history, the Alverno College basketball team captured a postseason victory. It took overtime, but the Inferno defeated visiting Milwaukee School of Engineering 64-61 in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference tournament quarterfinal Saturday afternoon in Reiman Gymnasium.

"It's unbelievable," said Alverno Head Coach Brad Duckworth when asked about Alverno's first postseason victory. "What a fantastic outcome."

The outcome ended in the Inferno's favor, but the excitement of the team's NCAA Division III leading fifth overtime game of the season gave Alverno fans some slight anxiety.

"Being in the previous overtime games really mattered today," added Duckworth" We've been in that position five times now.  So our players knew exactly what to do in overtime tonight, and we did a great job of making that happen."

Alverno (18-8) also did a great job of making it happen in the second half as the team shot 55 percent and made 11-of-12 free throws in the period. A dismal 26 percent shooting performance in the first half put the host in a 29-21 hole at halftime.

"We just had to settle down," said Duckworth, "and when we settled down, we got the game tied by the first second half media timeout. When we just do what we do, we're pretty good, and I thought we were pretty good in both the second half and overtime."

A Devon Gorman layup tied the game at 31-31 for the first time since a 6-6 score 7 minutes into the game, and Ashley Berry converted a three-point play on the next offensive possession to give Alverno a 34-31 lead, its first since leading 10-9, with just under 15 minutes to play in regulation.

The third-seeded Inferno increased its lead to five points on a Katie Bartlett layup, but the sixth-seeded Raiders (13-13) wouldn't allow the spread to get any bigger and eventually took the lead back with 6:31 left in regulation.

The lead changed hands six more times and the Raiders' Marly Trier nailed a 3-pointer with 2:06 left on the clock to give the visitors a 57-55 advantage.

Gorman tied it up just 30 seconds later on a drive to the hoop, but neither team scored the remainder of regulation.

The crosstown rivals traded baskets to open the extra period before Mollie Mikyska made 1-of-2 free throws with 52 ticks left to give the Inferno the final lead of the contest.

Berry added the final two points of the game with a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining.

MSOE's would-be-game-tying 3-point attempt was rebounded by Mikyska for her game-high 11th rebound.

Jamie Hoernke also hauled in 10 rebounds and is now tied with Joslyn Binkowski ('09) for the Alverno all-time mark of 558 rebounds. Hoernke completed her eighth double-double of the season with game-high honors of 20 points--10 of which came from the free-throw line.

Gorman added 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Berry had 12 with an 8-of-9 performance from the charity stripe.

Point-guard Kristen Speerschneider directed the Inferno offense for the game's entire 45 minutes of action, the only player in the contest to play every second.

Holly Denfeld led MSOE with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, the only Raider in double-figures.

Alverno will travel up to Mequon on Tuesday to face No. 2-seed Concordia University Wisconsin, which defeated seventh-seeded Aurora University 82-48 this afternoon. Tipoff for the NACC tournament semifinal is at 7 p.m.