ERIE, PA – The Alfred University women's basketball team completed the first round of the Behrend Tip Off Tournament with an 83-65 loss to Grove City College on Friday evening from the Junk Center Gym.

The Saxons (2-1) won the turnover battle by a 25-20 margin. AU also totaled 17 offensive rebounds.

Junior guard Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania/Episcopal School of Jacksonville) finished with a team-high 18 points to go with five rebounds and four steals. First-year guard Felicia Stewart (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer) totaled 14 points along with a team-high six boards. Sophomore guard Karly Welty (Portville, NY/Portville Central) compiled 12 points.

"Tonight was a great experience for us playing against a well-coached Grove City team," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "We did a pretty good job dealing with 40 minutes of being pressed. If you told me earlier today that we'd only have 20 turnovers against that, I'd be pleased. If you told me we'd turn them over 25 times, not pressing the whole game, I'd be even more pleased. I was proud of how we kept battling and basically played them even the last three quarters, after they seemed to hit seemingly every shot in the first half."

The Saxons felt the pressure early on, as the Wolverines put together a 10-2 run to open the first quarter. Welty totaled eight points in the first quarter, but Alfred University still trailed 32-15. Successful free throws kept the Saxons afloat in the second quarter, as seven combined points from Ion and Stewart at the charity stripe had AU trailing 55-34 at halftime. The Saxons offense showed spark in the third quarter, as eight points from Ion cut the deficit down to 71-55. AU held Grove City to just 12 points in the final quarter, but ran out of time on any potential comeback.  

"We hope we can learn from this and be ready for a quick turnaround into our first back-to-back of the season tomorrow," Moskowitz said.

Alfred University will compete in the consolation matchup against SUNY Canton on Saturday with tip off at 1:00 pm.