ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – The Alverno Basketball season got underway on Friday evening, as the Inferno opened the season at the Wild Athletic Center to compete against Crown College. A pair of Inferno scored double figures in the Alverno debuts, but it was ultimately the Polars to come out on top by an 80-59 score.
 
As a team, the Inferno converted on 36.8% from the field, which already eclipses all but two games from a season ago, as the team connected on 21-of-57 from the field including a trio of three-pointers.
 
Junior Mya Roberts and freshman Adrianna Sapp led the team in scoring with 14 points apiece, as the Inferno led 15-13 after the opening 10 minutes. Alverno trailed by four at the halftime break, before the Polars pulled away in the second half to take the game late.
 
Sapp led the Inferno with six made field goals, while also leading the Inferno with nine boards to fall one rebounds shy of a double-double in her collegiate debut. Roberts led the Inferno with four steals and made it to the free-throw line on 10 occasions scoring seven points at the stripe to go along with her team-leading three assists.
 
Sophomore Morgan Golabowski was tied with Roberts for the team lead with her three helpers as she finished the game with six points and the team's lone block. Sophomore Jewel Zahradka was tied for the team lead with three offensive rebounds, as she collected six points on the game to go along with a pair of steals.
 
Freshman Riley Spencer had seven points in her collegiate debut and added four rebounds. Freshman Camiria Sardin crashed the boards for seven rebounds off the bench, and added five points with a steal. Freshman Morgan Whitten added a three-pointer, while junior Victoria Parra and sophomore Olivia Daugherty capped off the Inferno scoring with two points apiece, with Daugherty collecting a pair of assists.
 
After falling behind by three to open the game, Roberts opened the scoring for Alverno with a jumper before Golabowski converted on a pair from the stripe to put the Inferno ahead, 4-3. Roberts converted a layup to give Alverno a three-point lead before the Inferno closed out the quarter on a 4-0 run on layups by Spencer and Zahradka to go ahead 15-13 after the initial 10 minutes.
 
The lead exchanged hands on eight occasions in the second quarter, as Crown took a 34-30 lead into halftime.
 
Sapp converted on a pair of field goals early in the second half to keep the Inferno within one possession before a three-pointer by Roberts got Alverno within two at 6:26 in the third. After Crown scored the next four field goals to take a 10-point lead Alverno was able to get back within seven points with a late jumper off of a dime by Spencer as the Inferno trailed 52-45 heading into the final period.
 
Alverno got within six on a pair of occasions in the fourth quarter, but were not able to close the gap further as an 11-0 run by the Polars gave Crown a 17-point lead at 68-51. Whitten drilled a three-pointer to end the Crown run with 3:49 to go in the game but the Polars capped off the win on a four-point run.
 
Alverno will get right back to action on Saturday afternoon, when the team takes on North Central in Minneapolis at 1 p.m. inside the Clark-Danielson Gymnasium.