Alverno College

MILWAUKEE – The Alverno basketball team wrapped up the season on Wednesday evening with a home matchup against the Lakeland Muskies from inside the Reiman Gymnasium. Alverno had four players with at least five points, including a pair of freshman leading the way with nine apiece, but were unable to hold onto a halftime lead and fell, 53-36.
 
The Inferno led at the break by a 24-19 margin, flustering the Muskie offense through the opening 20 minutes of play. Freshman Courtney Zarda led the Inferno with six first-half points and finished the game with nine. Also finishing the game with nine points was freshman Vorian Wilcox, who also led the team with 11 rebounds and five assists on the evening.
 
Sophomore Keeshya Bellows had eight points and eight rebounds on the game, while she along with Wilcox each recorded one block on the night. Classmate Angie Reutgen tallied five points including a three-pointer while also adding four rebounds. Senior Dom Hudson was even with Zarda and Reutgen with four rebounds, while also adding two assists and a team-best three steals to go along with her one second-half field goal.
 
Junior Kay Cooper notched three points off the bench, while adding five rebounds. Senior Mikayla Tessay added one rebound and one assist, while freshman Alayna Smith got in the box score with over three minutes played.
 
Zarda opened the game as she opened the second game of the season, with a three-pointer to put the Inferno ahead 3-0. Lakeland tied the game with a three pointer on the next possession before the Muskies took their first lead of the game at 5-3. Reutgen tied the game at five, before Alverno regained the lead late in the opening stanza at 10-9 on a Bellows layup with 35 seconds left in the quarter.
 
Reutgen began the second period with a three-ball to put Alverno ahead by two possessions, before Bellows knocked down a jumper in the paint to put the home team ahead 15-9. Wilcox added a shot at the free-throw line to put the Inferno up by seven. Lakeland scored the next nine points to take an 18-16 lead, but Cooper responded with a three to give Alverno the lead again, followed by a three-pointer by Zarda to put the Inferno ahead by four.
 
Lakeland connected on one free throw in the final seconds of the first half to pull the Muskies within one possession at 22-19 heading into the break.
 
Zarda opened the second half with another long-range shot to put the Inferno ahead by six, but the Muskies scored 17 unanswered points to take a 36-25 lead with 28 seconds left in the third. The Inferno were able to break the run with 10 seconds left as Bellows landed a shot off a dish by Wilcox.
 
In the fourth quarter, Hudson hit a mid-range shot to get Alverno back within seven, followed by a jumper by Bellows in the key to get the Inferno back at 36-31. A 17-3 run by the Muskies put the game out of reach for the Inferno as Alverno ran out of steam late in the contest. Wilcox scored the final two points on the game with a pair from the free throw line as she capped off the scoring at 53-36 in favor of the Muskies.
 
Alverno (0-10, 0-10 NACC) finishes the season with many building blocks in place for what is expected to be a full 25-game slate in 2021-22. All members of the current roster, including Alverno's two seniors, retain their season of eligibility due to the NCAA's COVID-19 blanket waiver and will be back with an incoming class for the Inferno this upcoming fall semester.