BELOIT, Wis. – The Alverno basketball team competed in its first road contest of the 2021-22 season as the Inferno visited the Flood Arena to take on the Beloit Buccaneers. The host Buccaneers won the contest by a final score of 63-39.
 
Junior Grace Lupumba collected a team-best 14 rebounds, including nine defensive caroms for the Inferno as she collected eight points and also led the team with three steals on the evening. Freshman Jewel Zahradka led the Inferno in scoring as she connected on four field goals, for a team-best 10 points on the night.
 
Junior Keeshya Bellows picked up eight points for the Inferno on 4-of-9 shooting, while also collecting four defensive rebounds. Playing a team-high 32 minutes, junior Angie Reutgen netted five points.
 
Senior Dom Hudson collected two points for the Inferno and was tied for the team lead with Zahradka, as the Nevada duo had two helpers apiece. Freshman Lauryn Hilliard picked up four points and four rebounds for the Inferno as she tallied 21 minutes on the court. Sophomore Kiara Ellison rounded out the scoring with a basket as she picked up two points.
 
Sophomore Courtney Zarda played 28 minutes as she started, and secured one rebound and one assist. Sophomore Sofia Jorgensen played seven minutes for the team in her second appearance of the season.
 
Beloit started out of the gates early with a pair of quick layups, before Lupumba answered with the first points of the night for the Inferno with a shot off the glass. The Buccaneers opened a six-point advantage at 10-4, but after a series of possessions, Zahradka connected on her first collegiate basket to pull the Inferno back within four.
 
Reutgen connected on a three-pointer to get the Inferno back within one at 10-9 with just over three minutes left in the opening period before Beloit tallied the next four points. Zahradka scored a basket in the closing seconds to get Alverno back within one possession heading into the final 30 minutes.
 
Zahradka willed the Inferno to stay within one possession after Beloit opened the second quarter with a layup. Zahradka converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to get the Inferno within two at 16-14. Alverno trailed by eight midway through the second, before Reutgen and Lupumba scored a pair of baskets to keep the game close. The Buccaneers scored the final six points of the half to take a 29-19 lead into the halftime break.
 
Beloit led by as many as 17 in the waning minutes of the third quarter, before Hilliard knocked down her second basket of the quarter to pull the Inferno within 15 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers scored the first nine points of the period to open a 24-point lead. Zahradka ended the drought with a fast break layup off of a steal. Lupumba scored the next basket of the game to get the deficit down to 55-35 with just over four minutes left in the game.
 
Ellison scored her first points of the season with 2:50 left in the game, while Bellows connected on the final points of the game for Alverno to cap off the Inferno scoring at 39. Beloit caped off the scoring after a steal and offensive board to finish off the point total for Beloit at 63.
 
Alverno (0-2) will get right back to action on Friday evening, when the Inferno play host to the Crown Storm at 6 p.m. inside the Reiman Gymnasium. Game coverage will be available at Athletics.Alverno.edu, with Don Wadewitz on the call of the game.