MILWAUKEE – Junior Keeshya Bellows registered a career-best 23 points for the Alverno basketball team on Friday evening, as the Inferno hosted the Crown Storm inside the Reiman Gymnasium and fell by the score of 60-52.
 
Bellows finished the game 9-of-13 from the floor, which was also a career best, her previous career best was eight field goals and 17 points during her freshman season at Aurora on January 4. Bellows also tied her season high with two assists and two blocks on the night, while chipping in on the defensive effort with six boards.
 
Senior Dom Hudson and junior Grace Lupumba both had eight points apiece on three field goals apiece. Lupumba collected a season-best 15 rebounds, including 11 defensive caroms, and also picked up one block and one assist. Hudson had a team-best six assists and had two defensive rebounds and chipped in with the team's lone steal of the night
 
Junior Angie Reutgen picked up five points to go along with a pair of rebounds and two assists. Sophomore Courtney Zarda connected on one three-pointer and a free throw, and had three rebounds with one assist and one block, while freshman Jewel Zahradka rounded out the scoring with a second-half three pointer and added one free throw with one assist.
 
Freshman Lauryn Hilliard found success with four assists on the night, on looks into the paint to Bellows as the two had great chemistry against the Storm defensive effort. Sophomore Sofia Jorgensen got on the court for a brief stay as well.
 
Crown opened the scoring on the night with a three-pointer, but Hudson answered back with a jumper to and Bellows gave the Inferno a lead with a layup off of a Crown turnover. The lead see-sawed back and forth, with the Inferno regaining the lead on a three-ball by Zarda off of a pass by Hudson. The next two baskets were scored by Crown, but Bellows knotted the game at nine with 5:14 left in the opening period.
 
Lupumba put the Inferno ahead 11-9 with a jumper before Reutgen notched a free throw to put Alverno up by three. The Storm scored the final four points of the quarter to take a 13-12 lead into the second quarter.
 
Crown opened the second period with nine unanswered to take a 10-point advantage before Hudson ended the run with 5:14 left in the half to end the Storm run. Crown led by as many as 15 before Reutgen picked up a free throw, and Hudson notched two from the stripe to close the gap to 12 heading into the halftime break.
 
Bellows opened the second half with three points to get Alverno back within three possessions. The third quarter saw Alverno outscore the Storm by an 18-16 margin, closing the deficit to 10 as the game progressed to the final stanza.
 
Alverno outscored Crown again in the fourth quarter, 11-9, as Lupumba, Hudson and Bellows each had two points, while Zahradka score Alverno's 50th point with a three-pointer in the waning minutes. Bellows finished off the game with a last-possession layup off of a feed from Hudson to get Alverno back within eight as Crown picked up the 60-52 win.
 
Alverno (0-3) will be back home again on Tuesday, when the Inferno play host to the Mount Mary Blue Angels. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. inside Reiman Gymnasium.