ALFRED, NY – A dominant first half from the Alfred University women's basketball team led to a 73-64 win over Hiram College on Saturday night as part of the Alfred Tournament.

Grace Rittenhouse (Dansville, NY/Dansville) led Alfred University with a team-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. Jaidyn Chest (Mayfield, NY/Mayfield) finished the game with 15 points, four rebounds and four steals. Jessica Beehler (Dunkirk, NY/Dunkirk) added 13 points and three steals for AU.

"Tonight was a really nice early season win against a good Hiram team," Head Coach Mike Moskowitz said. "They do a great job doing what they do, and luckily we built ourselves a nice first half lead to mitigate the shift in execution in the second half. Grace was amazing and did what a fifth-year should do. JC hit two big shots that gave us life. We could not take Jayda L. Felker off the court, as she played the last 15 minutes for us. I thought our bigs defended #20 pretty well. She is a great player and we really made her work, especially in the first half. We're excited to have another opportunity to get better together tomorrow."

The Saxons were forced to play from behind early in the opening quarter, but five early points gave AU their first lead of the evening. Rittenhouse finished the first quarter with a game-high 10 points, but Hiram relied on points from five different players to force a 19-19 tie entering the second quarter. Layups from Beehler and Nelly Mbugeni (Tanga, Tanzania/Masai Girls) in the second quarter had Alfred University leading by double-digits. A deep shot from Chest in the closing minute of the half gave the Saxons their biggest lead of the game, as the team went into halftime with a 42-30 advantage.

Beehler opened the second half with a three-point shot for AU to spark the offense. Beehler and Chest combined for Alfred University's final eight points of the third quarter, as the Saxons were ahead 57-50 with one quarter remaining. Consecutive shots from beyond the arc from Chest extended the lead to double-digit figures once again for Alfred University in the early moments of the fourth quarter. Hiram cut their deficit down to six points at one point, but the AU defense surrendered just five points across the final five minutes to hold on for the win.

Alfred University will next take a short trip across the street to face Alfred State College for the Championship of the Alfred Tournament on Sunday at 6:30 PM.