DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Delaware Valley women's basketball team put together their best three-point shooting performance of the season but ultimately fell just short dropping the contest to Penn State Harrisburg 68-63 at home on Thursday night.
The Aggies shot 5-of-8 from the field including 2-of-5 from beyond the arc in the first frame but foul trouble helped push the Lions ahead by a five-point margin to end the frame putting together a 5-of-6 performance from the charity stripe for the 17-12 lead.
Trailing by eight through the first minute of the second quarter, a three-pointer from
Ava Irizarry kicked off a 14-7 run spearheaded with a six-point effort from
Alexis Wright to cut the deficit down to just one, 27-26, with just over three minutes remaining in the half.
Haley Keenan converted the layup and
Ciana Feliciano knocked down the three to propel the Aggies ahead, 33-31. The teams traded three-pointers with Irizarry claiming her third of the game to even the score at 36 apiece with just nine seconds in the half. The Lions converted a last second layup to take a two-point lead into the half, 38-36.
Penn State started the second half strong with an 8-3 run through the first four minutes to create a seven-point lead, 46-39.
Jayla Rivera stepped up from deep sinking the long ball to cut the deficit to four, but the Lions responded with a three of their own to maintain their advantage. The momentum shifted in favor of the Aggies with an 8-2 run over the next two minutes come within a single-point, 50-51. Foul trouble for the Aggies helped to keep Penn State ahead until Felciano came down court knocking down the jumper to even the score with 30 seconds left, 52-52.
An early three-pointer from the Lions put DelVal behind by five, but a layup from Wright and three-pointer from Rivera evened the score back up, 57-57. The Lions responded with a six-point run over the next three minutes to force a DelVal timeout with 4:26 on the clock. Rivera stepped up from beyond the arc again at the one-minute mark to bring the score within five, 65-60. Foul trouble got the best of the Aggies with the Lions sinking the and one to push back ahead by eight and force another DelVal timeout with 41 seconds on the clock. Rivera knocked down her fifth three-pointer of the game out of the break to cut the deficit to five for a final score of 68-63.
Rivera led the Aggies in scoring shooting 50% from the long range (5-of-10) tallying 21 total points. Both Wright and Irizarry finished the night in double-digit scoring. Wright also led the battle at the boards with 10 rebounds.
DelVal returns to action this Saturday, Dec. 14 at Neumann for a 1 p.m. tipoff.
