READING, Pa. – The Ursinus College women's basketball team overcame shooting woes and an upstart Alvernia squad in its season opener on Wednesday, watching a big lead disappear before making the plays down the stretch to overturn a six-point fourth-quarter deficit on the way to a 55-50 victory.
Sophomore Lydia Konstanzer finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bears, who received several critical plays from senior captain Rachel Guy and sophomore Toni Suler to close the game on an 18-7 run over the final six minutes and change.
Ursinus led 18-8 after a strong first quarter and expanded its margin to 13 with 3:33 remaining in the second stanza, but Bears went cold from there and had to weather a big rally by the Golden Wolves to escape with their first win in a season opener in three years.
Alvernia held Ursinus to four points in the third quarter and went up 43-37 after a three-point play by Kiersten Ingram with 6:18 to play. That's when Guy and Suler took over, and not a moment too soon. First, Guy buried a 3-pointer from the right wing following a chase-down rebound by junior Kaci McNeave to make it 43-40.
Still trailing by three at 45-42, Suler took control. The sophomore slipped inside and finished strong to cut the deficit to one and then, after a pair of free throws by the Golden Wolves, fought for an offensive rebound and kicked out to Guy for a game-tying triple from the left wing with 3:18 to go.
Konstanzer put the Bears ahead to stay, curling around the right elbow for a basket, and Suler's difficult runner just got over the front of the rim and dropped for a 51-47 lead with 32 seconds showing on the clock. With Alvernia desperate for an answer, Suler swatted away Liv Andrefski's 3-pointer and kept it in play for McNeave to grab. Ursinus ran off plenty of crucial seconds as the Golden Wolves used their fouls to give, and Guy knocked down two from the stripe to give the visitors a 53-47 bulge with 23.1 ticks remaining.
Andrefski gave Alvernia hope with a deep trey, but McNeave hit one of two free throws with 8.5 seconds left to ice it.
Ursinus shot just 30.4 percent from the field (21 for 69) and 5 for 23 from 3-point range (21.7 percent), but held Alvernia to a 26.4-percent clip (14 of 53). The Bears grabbed 18 offensive rebounds en route to a 13-6 edge in second-chance points and forced 14 turnovers.
Konstanzer was one of the few efficient shooters on the night, making 11 of 19 from the floor on the way to her 10th career double-double; she also added three steals and an assist. Guy had eight of her nine points in the fourth quarter and handed out a career-high seven assists (to just one turnover) to go with seven rebounds, while Suler produced seven points and ten boards. Freshman Sydney Fail had seven points in her collegiate debut.
Andrefski had 21 points to lead Alvernia, but her teammates finished just 1 for 14 from distance.
Ursinus trailed twice trailed by a point in the early going, the last at 6-5 after an Andrefski triple. Konstanzer went wild in the opening frame, pouring in 10 consecutive points with a variety of inside and outside shots to open up a 15-6 lead. Fail's first career 3-pointer made it 18-8 just before the quarter break, and a trey by sophomore Marisa DiLeo stretched the disparity to 23-10 with 8:06 to go in the half.
Sophomore Brielle Clarke's 3-pointer from the right corner made it 31-19, but the Golden Wolves scored five straight to close the half, jump-starting a run that reached 24-6 before the Bears' closing flourish.
Konstanzer's baseline jumper at the 3:50 mark finally ended a six-minute Ursinus drought to open the second half, and Alvernia ran off a 6-0 mini-run to close the gap to 33-32 before Fail drained a jumper from the left elbow to restore a three-point edge. Alvernia picked up a free throw and a second-chance jumper following an offensive rebound in the closing seconds of the quarter to send the teams into the final frame knotted at 35.
The home side took its first lead since the 6:16 mark of the first quarter when Andrefski completed a four-point play with 8:53 remaining, eventually going ahead by six before Ursinus made its move.
Freshman Aliyah Stephens had three points in her first collegiate action, while fellow rookies Alexis Hnatkowsky, Maya Kornfeld, and Marisa Morano joined senior Liana Weishaar in making their debuts.
The Bears return to action on Friday at Lebanon Valley in the opener of the Rinso-Marquette Tournament. Tip time is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
