Box Score DOYLESTOWN (PA) – The Delaware Valley University women's basketball team erased a fourth quarter deficit to knock off DeSales University, 75-71 in a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom game on Friday.
The Aggies went to 7-10 overall and 3-3 in the MAC Freedom. The Bulldogs are 12-5 overall and they suffered their first conference loss of the year (5-1). The contest was originally scheduled for Saturday, January 23 but was moved to Friday evening in order to complete the game before the arrival of Winter Storm Jonas.
DelVal led 68-66 with 3:03 to go. Jen Napolitano nailed a three to give DeSales a one-point advantage. Each team missed a three-point attempt and the Bulldogs were off the mark on two foul shots. Senior
Eireann Anastasi converted a triple for a 71-69 Aggies lead (1:27). Napolitano missed a jumper and senior
Kelsey Kilpatrick's three was no good. Freshman
Morgan Mitchell came up with a steal (0:20) and was fouled. She made one free throw and the score was 72-69. Kaitlin Kelly was off the mark with her three-point attempt with 11 seconds remaining and Delaware Valley made three foul shots to ice the game.
Anastasi put up a career high 30 points and went over the 1,500-point mark (1,510) for her standout career. She also added seven rebounds. Freshman
Danielle Skedzielewski totaled 18 points and seven boards. Kilpatrick finished with 10 points. Freshman
Brianna Rivello corralled five rebounds.
Napolitano and Kelly registered 24 and 22 points respectively. Megan Baird tallied 10 points and Morgan McCollian grabbed 10 rebounds. Kelly Anthony had seven boards while Morgan Birmelin dished seven assists.
Baird sank a three for the first bucket of the game (8:50). DelVal followed with a 13-3 run to take a 13-6 lead (4:31). Anastasi had five points, Kilpatrick and Skedzielewski tallied three apiece and freshman
Amber Grohowski made a layup. With the score 13-10, the Aggies orchestrated an 11-5 surge that carried into the second quarter. It marked their largest lead of the half at nine (24-15) with 7:41 on the clock. However, the Bulldogs came back with an 18-7 stretch to take a 33-31 advantage (2:06). Napolitano sparked the spurt with 10 points, Kelly had five and Baird added three. DeSales still held the upper hand at halftime by a 41-37 score. Anastasi led all scorers with 20 points and Napolitano was right behind her at 18.
In the third quarter, the Bulldogs pushed their lead to eight (49-41) with 6:52 left. Delaware Valley then embarked on an 11-3 run that bled into the fourth, tying the game at 52. Four players scored in the stretch. DeSales regained a five-point cushion (65-60) with 5:02 remaining but the Aggies put together an 8-1 surge to go ahead 68-66 (3:03). Four players recorded points in that time.
Delaware Valley travels to Misericordia University for a conference game on Wednesday, January 27 (6:00 p.m.).
