Alverno College

AURORA, Ill. – The Alverno basketball team rang in the New Year and resumed Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play on Saturday afternoon against host Aurora, falling to the Spartans in a closely-contested matchup, 69-62.
 
The Inferno led by three after the opening period, and trailed by just two points at halftime and heading until the fourth quarter. However, the Spartans pulled away late and hung on for the seven-point victory.
 
Alverno was led by senior Sara Redlin, who tied her season-high with 21 points as she connected on 7-of-11 from beyond the arc to lead the team as Alverno went 7-of-14 as a team. Redlin's seven three-pointers tied the program record for long-range shots in a single game, tying the mark that had been established in 2002-03 by Katie Knight, and tied during the 2017-18 season by Mackenzie Mathies.
 
Freshman Keeshya Bellows had a strong homecoming game as the Aurora-native connected on 17 points going 8-of-18 from the field and led the team with seven rebounds along with junior Alicia Hornbuckle, who had four points on the day. Freshman Eniya Madden had 12 points on the afternoon, with 10 coming from the charity stripe while she also added five rebounds.
 
Freshman Angie Reutgen had six points in her conference debut, as she connected on 2-of-5 from the field. Junior Dom Hudson had two points and two rebounds, while classmate Mikayla Tessay had two rebounds, as did sophomore Brittney Hondel.
 
Alverno registered 17 assists on the afternoon led by Hornbuckle with nine as Madden added seven while Redlin tallied one to round out the team's assists.
 
Aurora opened the scoring with a bucket, but Redlin responded with her first long-range shot from the field just 88 seconds into the contest. The lead changed hand on the ensuing two possessions, before Alverno opened up a five-point advantage at 9-4 following jumpers by Hudson and Bellows and a pair from the line by Madden.
 
Reutgen added to the run by connected on a layup with 5:27 to go in the opening quarter to give Alverno its largest lead of the day at seven points, 11-4. Aurora scored the next four points and eventually tied the score at 13 before Redlin put Alverno back on top with another three-pointer to close out the opening period.
 
Redlin continued her torrid start with another three-ball just under a minute into the stanza to put the Inferno back up by six. The Spartans answered back with an 11-point run to open up a five-point lead before Madden made four-straight from the charity stripe to pull the Inferno back within one.
 
Redlin's three-pointer tied it following a layup by the Spartans before Aurora connected on a late bucket to take a two-point lead into the halftime break.
 
Both sides were evenly matched in the third quarter as the scoring in the period was even at 20 points apiece. Aurora took a lead as large as eight in the quarter, but Alverno was able to pull to within one on a pair of occasions before heading into the fourth quarter down a pair.
 
Bellows got the scoring started in the fourth to tie the game again at 48 on a jumper before the Spartans took another two-point lead. The Inferno tied the score on two more occasions in the following possessions before a 14-4 run by the Spartans gave the home team a 10-point advantage with 2:21 to go.
 
Redlin drilled her program-tying three-pointer on the next Alverno possession but it was not enough as the Spartans had opened too large of a lead for the Inferno to answer back.
 
Alverno (2-9, 2-4 NACC) will head right back to Illinois on Wednesday, when the Inferno pay a visit to the Benedictine Eagles at 7 p.m. from the Rice Center in Lisle.