NEW WILMINGTON, PA – The Alfred University women's basketball team fell on the road, 67-46 to the Titans (4-5, 1-2 PAC) of Westminster College (PA), effectively ending the 2021 portion of its schedule on Friday afternoon, just before the calendar rolls over into 2022.
 
The fall schedule of the 2021-22 season is the Saxons' (5-4, 0-0 Empire 8) best finish since the 2011-12 season where the team ended the 2011 half with a record of 7-2. The last time AU opened a season up with five wins before hitting the Empire 8 schedule was in the 2013-14 season, starting the year with a 5-3 record, spanning from November 15 to January 5.
 
The Saxons were led by Grace Rittenhouse (Dansville, NY/Dansville) and her 11 points while nearing a double-double, leading the Saxons in rebounds with nine. She also led AU in steals, snagging six of the 11 takeaways. Her steals were a career-high as she was three away from breaking the school record of eight, held by teammate Gillian Flint (Caledonia, NY/Caledonia-Mumford) against SUNY Cobleskill in November of 2019 as well as Heather Hebert (only played her first-year season with the Saxons) versus Hilbert College in November of 2012. Rittenhouse also made a career-best five free throws, only missing one on the day and her seven offensive rebounds were also a collegiate top mark.
 
Ana Ion (Bucharest, Romania/Episcopal School of Jacksonville) followed with nine points and six rebounds while assisting on one made bucket. Leah Harkenrider (Hornell, NY/Hornell) tacked on eight points, a team-high three assists and added four rebounds and one steal.
 
We really struggled to score consistently today. Westminster did a great job defensively, so credit to them for sure," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "I thought our patience on offense was good, which is something we focused on the last few days, but our finishing in the paint was pretty poor on some great looks."
 
As a team, the Saxons held advantages in steals, 11-4 and turnovers, only giving up the ball 10 times compared to Westminster's 20 turnovers. "On the other end, we had some really solid defensive possessions, but we shot ourselves in the foot with our inconsistencies in communication on defense," Coach Moskowitz said. "We have to get better on that end to help keep the game close when we don't shoot it well, like we did today."
 
On Friday, the Saxons started on the right foot after two made 3-pointers from Rittenhouse and Harkenrider to start with the 6-0 lead. With just over five and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Titans put in a layup for the game's first tie, 8-8. After some back-and-forth shots from both squads, and tying the game another three times, Westminster finally gained the advantage with a layup to make it 16-14 in favor of the hosts with just over a minute to play. Another two Titan layups closed out the first quarter with a 20-14 score.
 
Westminster's scoring advantage opened up more in the second quarter as the home team ended the first half with a 14-point advantage, 35-21. AU battled back to open the second half of play as they chipped away at the Titan lead to a low of seven points off a fast break 3-pointer from Rittenhouse after a defensive rebound and pass from Harkenrider. The quick three brought the Saxons and Titans score to 46-39 in favor of the hosts. Overall for the third quarter, the Saxons outscored Westminster 19-13. The Titans closed out the non-conference matchup with the largest quarter deficit of the day, outscoring the Saxons 19-6 in the final period.
 
"We're excited to start conference play this Tuesday and understand the challenge and importance of executing at a consistently high level on both ends moving forward," Coach Moskowitz said.
 
The Saxons will next return to action in 2022 as they travel to St. John Fisher College on Tuesday, January 4 for a 5:30pm, Empire 8 Conference matchup.