(Posted November 24, 2009)

READING, Pa. -- The Juniata College women's basketball team dropped a 77-71 decision to Alvernia University, Tuesday night in Reading, Pa.

Freshman Natalie Glinsky (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) led the Eagles with 18 points, while sophomore Brittany Danel (Stoystown, Pa./North Star) chipped in with 12 points. Alvernia (2-1) was paced by Angela Altimose with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

After 11 lead changes and four ties, Juniata (2-2) trailed by just two points at the half.

Alvernia threatened to pull away early in the second half, but Juniata remained within three of the Crusaders, 49-46, following a three-pointer by Alyssia Gordon (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove) with 12:57 remaining.

The Crusaders answered with a conventional three-point play on Lil Snyder barely a minute later. That launched a 14-3 run by Alvernia, putting the Crusader lead into double-digits at 63-49 with 8:08 showing in the second half. Alvernia's surge was interrupted only by Paige Robertson's (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) trey at the 10:14 mark, briefly cutting the Crusader lead back into single digits at 56-49.

Alvernia's lead reached its widest at 16 points, 73-57, after a pair of Altimose free throws with 3:25 remaining.

Juniata outscored Alvernia 14-4 the rest of the way, but the Eagles simply ran out of clock as time expired on Glinsky's layup that cut the final margin to six points.

Juniata received a healthy scoring boost from its reserves, as the Eagles got 35 points off the bench - including Glinsky's 18 on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor, and 4-of-9 from three-point range. Both teams shot slightly better than 42 percent from the field; the difference was provided at the free-throw line, where Alvernia shot 27-of-35 at the stripe on Juniata's 22 fouls. Alvernia was called for just 14 fouls, and Juniata was just 5-of-8 at the line.

The Eagles were also outrebounded, 42-35.

Juniata returns to action on Saturday afternoon, November 28, when it travels to Greensburg, Pa., to face the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg in a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.