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The Albright College women's basketball team is preparing for perhaps its biggest home game of the year as the Lions welcome cross-town rival Alvernia on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Previous Meeting

The Lions stayed close with Alvernia but were undone by an offensive explosion from Angela Altemose. Altemose was 8-for-8 in the second half to help the Crusaders pull away, and finished with 30 points on 14-of-18 shooting. Her 14 made field goals were one shy of the school record.

Albright led 25-24 and then was down by just two in the dying seconds of the first half after Kristi McFadden's three-pointer. Kelly McIntyre scored just before halftime however, and Altemose keyed an 11-5 run to start the second half as Alvernia pushed its lead to double-digits.

Commonwealth Conference Playoff Picture

At 3-7, Alvernia trails Widener (6-3) by 2.5 games in the race for the final playoff spot. The Crusaders are also chasing Lycoming (5-5), so one more loss would all but eliminate them from contention. Albright was mathematically eliminated with its loss to Elizabethtown on Saturday.

Albright College Lions (5-16, 1-9 Commonwealth)

The Alvernia loss put Albright at 0-5 in league play, but a young Lions team has played better since that game. They led nationally-ranked Lebanon Valley for a good part of the first half, beat Arcadia on the road, and then dropped a pair of tough road decisions to Lycoming and Elizabethtown by a total of nine points.

Senior Jenny Knoebel continues to lead an otherwise young team, with team-highs in scoring (10.5 ppg), blocks (20) and steals (31). Her 6.2 rpg is third behind sophomore forwards Meghan Boyle and Shawn Barczynski.

Freshman Tara Sabotchik (6.8 ppg) has returned to the lineup and forms a promising trio of rookie guards with Jessica Venturelli (9.5 ppg) and Amanda Tiritilli (who leads the Commonwealth Conference with her 42.7% three-point shooting).

Alvernia College Crusaders (10-10, 3-7 Commonwealth)

Altemose is third in the league in scoring (14.2 ppg), fourth in field goal percentage (51.6) and fifth in rebounding (7.6 rpg). She was a first team All-Conference selection in 2010-11 and has a chance to duplicate that feat this season.

An all-around player, Altemose is also third on Alvernia in assists (31) and second in steals (32), despite playing in the post. She has a team-high 10 blocks.

Two other Crusaders are averaging in double-figures: McIntyre (11.4 ppg) and Allie Toczylowski (10.1 ppg). Alvernia has used 14 different starters this season, with no one starting every game (Altemose has the most with 18 in 21 contests). The most frequent line-up has been Altemose, Toczylowski, Mya Lobb, Kaitlyn Yoh and Cori Conner.

Parking

All visitors tonight are instructed to park in the Shirk Stadium lot on 13th street, behind the away football bleachers.