DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Delaware Valley women's basketball team and the Misericordia Cougars battled through eight lead changes in the final quarter with
Aubrey Ennis making a key steal and converting the layup to make it a single-point game, but the Aggies struggled to hold on dropping the contest 52-51 on Saturday afternoon.
The loss puts DelVal at 3-16 on the season and 1-7 in MAC Freedom play. The victory improves Misericordia's record to 5-14 overall and 3-5 in conference play.
The Cougars held the Aggies scoreless through the first 2:03 to take a six-point lead before fouling
Alexis Wright and sending her to the line for a 1-of-2 performance. A three minute-scoring drought ended with a three-pointer from Misericordia to kick off a short 5-0 run for the 11-point lead. Wright sunk the layup to start a 5-2 response from the Aggies to end the frame down by five, 13-8.
DelVal held the scoring edge in the first minute with
Haley Keenan and
Ava Irizarry combining for five points to make it a one-bucket game, 15-13. The Cougars struck with a long ball to regain their edge, but Keenan kicked off a 12-3 spurt for the Aggies, netting six points alone to gain a four-point lead heading into the half, 25-21.
A quick 5-0 run changed the lead in favor of the Cougars.
Jayla Rivera answered the call from beyond the arc to start off a 5-0 response for the Aggies to maintain a four-point lead, 30-26. Misericordia mounted a 9-2 comeback to end the quarter with a three-point advantage over DelVal, 35-32.
Keenan converted two layups over the first minute to close the deficit to a single point twice. Trailing by just two points following a 2-of-2 effort at the line from Wright,
Aubrey Ennis converted the three-pointer to shift the lead in favor of the Aggies, 43-42, with 6:35 on the clock. A minute and 30 seconds later the Aggies remained in chase yet again when Wright sunk the layup and drew the foul to tally three-points for the lead, 46-45. The Cougars ran the clock down to a minute, building up a four-point lead when Wright battled for the layup to shift the momentum and make it a one-basket game with 0:39 on the clock, 51-49. Foul trouble placed the Cougars ahead by three, but with nine seconds to play Ennis collected the lost ball for the Aggies and took it down for the layup to make it a single-point game, 52-51. Possession worked in favor of the Cougars keeping the Aggies away from the paint in the final seconds for the 52-51 loss.
Wright led the Aggies in scoring with 19 points while Keenan led the battle at the boards with 11 rebounds. The graduate student also tallied 14 points and a team-high five steals.
DelVal returns to action this Wednesday, Feb. 5 when they host FDU-Florham at James Work Gymnasium for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
