DOYLESTOWN (PA) – The Delaware Valley College women's basketball team is seeded third for the Freedom Conference playoffs and will travel to second-seeded and two-time defending champion DeSales University on Wednesday, February 24 for semifinal action. Tip-off at Billera Hall is set for 6:00 p.m.

The winner of the game will battle the winner of top-seeded Manhattanville College and No. 4 Misericordia University (Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.) in the Freedom Conference Championship Game on Saturday, February 27 (site and time to be determined). The eventual Freedom Conference champion will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

It is the eighth time that Delaware Valley has reached the conference postseason in head coach Laura Hogan's 14-year tenure, including seven trips in the last 10 seasons. The Aggies' last appearance was two years ago when they dropped a tough, 78-72 decision at DeSales, which eventually went on to claim the Freedom title.

Hogan and her young squad – only three of the players on the current roster saw time in the '08 playoff game at DeSales - finished the regular season with a 17-8 overall record and a 9-5 mark in conference play (they were tied for third with Misericordia but earned the third seed due to tiebreakers). It was a six-game improvement over last year's 11-14 overall mark as well as a step up from the 5-11 record when there were nine teams in the league.

Delaware Valley and DeSales split their two regular-season meetings with the home team victorious each time. They met in Doylestown in December and the Aggies rallied from a four-point halftime deficit and outscored the Bulldogs, 43-24, over the final 20 minutes for a 69-54 triumph. Earlier this month in Center Valley, DeSales built a 25-point lead and withstood a furious Delaware Valley rally before posting an 84-77 win.

Senior guard and two-time all-Freedom honoree Kim Vennera (Norristown, PA/Kennedy-Kenrick) leads an Aggie squad that tops the conference in scoring with an average of 69.6 points per game. She is third in the individual list with 16 points a contest and is ranked in the top 10 in five other categories: steals (3rd – 3.2 avg), 3-pointers (4th – 1.4 avg), assists (7th – 3.1 avg), field goal percentage (9th - .412) and free throw percentage (9th - .697). Vennera is fifth all-time in Delaware Valley history with 1,401 points and needs just 13 points to move up two spots to third (she would pass Hogan's total of 1,413 points from 1986 to 1990).

Junior Brittany Battinieri (Eddystone, PA/Ridley) and sophomore Brittney Zimmerman (Lewistown, PA/Lewistown) join Vennera in the team's three-guard set. Battinieri, who missed most of last season with an injury, has bounced back to average 12.4 points (seventh in the Freedom) and 3.8 assists (fourth) per game. She paces the conference with 66 treys, including a school record-tying nine in a 42-point outburst at DeSales. Thirty-one of her 42 (second in school history) came in the Aggies' second-half comeback bid.

Zimmerman averages 10.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a conference-best 3.3 steals per contest. She tops the team in 3-point shooting percentage with a .352 mark (31-for-88) while her .814 free throw percentage in second in the Freedom. Zimmerman poured in a game-high 24 points, including 19 in the second half, in Delaware Valley's December win over the Bulldogs.

Up front, the freshmen tandem of 6-foot-1 Emily Soper (Selinsgrove, PA/Selinsgrove) and 6-foot-3 Jenna Peoples (Cheltenham, PA/Cheltenham) combine for 18.3 points. 14.8 rebounds, 3.7 blocks per contest. Soper averages 9.8 points and is ranked in the conference top five in both blocks (3rd – 1.4 avg) and rebounding (5th – 8.1 avg). Peoples contributes 8.5 points, 6.7 boards (ninth) and a Freedom-best 2.3 rejections an outing.

Sophomores Jackie Shunkwiler (Levittown, PA/Neshaminy) and Sarah Delcasale (Philadelphia, PA/St. Hubert) are sparks off the bench for the Aggies. Shunkwiler, a forward, is averaging 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds an outing while Delcasale, a guard, contributes 3.1 points and 1.8 assists per contest.

DeSales, under head coach Fred Richter, has made the conference playoffs for 13 straight years since becoming members back in 1997-98. Four of those runs have ended with titles including each of the last two seasons. The Bulldogs lost a pair of All-Americans to graduation and began the season 5-8 overall and 1-3 in the conference before bouncing back to win 11 of 12, including the last 10 in a row, to finish 16-9 (11-3 Freedom).

Junior guard Lori Lidlow transferred in from Lebanon Valley College prior to the season as she is second in the conference in scoring with an average of 17.8 points per game. She had 34 points on 14-for-19 shooting from the field in DeSales' home win over Delaware Valley earlier this month.

Senior guard Kelly Magrann averages 10.8 points per game and is deadly from 3-point land as she has hit better than 40 percent (.408) of her shots from long range. That mark has her ranked second in the Freedom while her 53 treys (2.1 avg) are second behind Battinieri.

Point guard Hannah Smith tops all players in the conference with 127 assists (5.1 avg) while committing just 50 turnovers. She also contributes 3.2 points, 2.3 steals and 2.2 rebounds per contest.

Freshman Colleen Gavin and sophomore Cherelle Simmons are threats inside for the Bulldogs. Gavin  averages 9.6 points and 6.7 boards per game while Simmons adds seven points, and team-highs of 8.4 rebounds (fourth in Freedom) and 1.3 blocks (fifth) per outing.