MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny frontcourt made a dominant debut on Friday, anchoring the Gators to a 105-69, season-opening win over Penn State-Altoona as part of the Third Annual Greg Richards '08 Memorial Tip-Off Tournament at the David V. Wise Center.

Sophomore Meaghan Wilby and junior Jessica Mrdjenovich tied for a team-high 17 points, as the Gators scored the most single-game points since the 1990-91 season, when the Gators picked up a 106-60 win over Earlham.  Allegheny last scored 105 points exactly in a game during the 1984-85 season, a 105-68 win over North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) foe Denison.

Wilby, who earned a new career-high scoring total with her 17-point performance, tacked on a team- and career-high nine rebounds, finishing the afternoon shooting 6-of-10 from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.  Mrdjenovich picked up eight rebounds and three assists, tying freshman Harper Zimmer with three buckets from beyond the arc.  In total, four Gators finished in double digits, as Gator first year Madison Caufield went 6-of-12 from the field to finish with 12 points.  Junior Emma Pellicano rounded out Allegheny's double-digit scorers with 11 points. 

Junior Kailtyn Fromknecht tied a career-high with a team-high five blocks, as Fromknecht and senior Kendall Hoffman picked up six rebounds each.  Hoffman tacked on four steals and three blocks as Pellicano led the team with seven steals.  As a team, Allegheny racked 21 total steals and forced 27 Penn State-Altoona turnovers, scoring 40 points off of Lions' turnovers while also outscoring the visitors, 52-34, in the paint.

"We focused on getting our forwards more comfortable with their back to the basket and getting the guards more comfortable passing inside," commented Gator head coach Kate Costanzo.  "We know that having a strong inside presence will be one of our differences this year."

The Gators presented a suffocating defense to kick off the game, taking a 10-0 lead while forcing six turnovers over the first four minutes of play.  Allegheny picked up a double-digit lead with 14:01 remaining in the half and never looked back, leading by as many as 35 in the first before taking a 67-33 advantage into the halftime break.

"I think our full court pressure and even our ball pressure in the half-court was able to allow us the opportunity to get easy buckets in transition, which got our confidence early.  We did a good job of getting the ball inside to our post, which is a high percentage shot for us and I thought the team was playing well on all cylinders in that regard."

Allegheny's post presence grinded out the second half, as the Gators scored 17 second-chance points in the latter stanza.  Leading by a game-high 39 with 12:40 left on the clock, the Gators were able to contain the Lions down the stretch.

The Gators will now take on Case Western Reserve, who upended Mount Union, 57-48, earlier in the tournament, in the championship bout at 4 p.m. on Sunday.  The two squads battled last season, as the Spartans emerged victorious, 76-67, on Nov. 30, 2013.

"We hope to keep moving with what we did tonight, run our full court presses knowing that they (Case) are able to hold the ball a lot better. But we know if we continue our ball pressure and lock down better in the mid-court, match up with their shooters a little quicker than we were tonight, I think those are the things we are looking for going into tomorrow knowing that we have a really good matchup with Case Western Reserve."