FOND DU LAC, Wis. – The Alverno basketball team opened the 2020-21 season on Friday evening inside the Sadoff Gymnasium against the Marian Sabres. The Inferno were led by freshman
Vorian Wilcox, who made her collegiate debut and registered her first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds as Alverno fell by a 65-40 margin.
Sophomores
Angie Reutgen and
Keeshya Bellows each had nine points apiece to kick off their second collegiate seasons, with Bellows grabbing seven boards. Freshman
Courtney Zarda tallied eight points in her first collegiate appearance, while senior
Mikayla Tessay notched four points in 15 minutes in reserve.
Senior
Dom Hudson had four rebounds and two assists on the night, while junior
Kay Cooper played 20 minutes and picked up two rebounds and a pair of helpers. Freshman
Alayna Smith grabbed one board in her Alverno debut while playing nine minutes.
Marian opened the game with a three-pointer before Reutgen secured Alverno's first points of the season on a pair of free throws. The Sabres jumped out to an eight-point lead at 10-2 before Alverno began chipping away at the deficit as Reutgen scored a bucket, followed by back-to-back field goals by Wilcox. Reutgen tied the game at 10 with a jumper at the 3:29 mark of the first quarter before Marian closed out the period on a 5-0 run.
Alverno pulled back within one after scoring the first four points of the second quarter, and then took the lead on a three-pointer from the elbow by Zarda to give Alverno its first lead of the contest. Marian tied it a few possessions later before outscoring Alverno 8-1 to close out the half and take a 25-18 lead into the break.
The second half saw Marian extend its lead to 13 by the end of the third quarter, before the Sabres outscore the Inferno 22-10 in the final period to runaway late with the 65-40 victory.
Alverno (0-1, 0-1 NACC) will return to Fond du Lac for the second game of the two-game series with the Sabres, and look for the weekend split with Marian. Game time on Saturday is set for 5:00 p.m. from the Sadoff Gymnasium.
