GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Delaware Valley women's basketball team fell early to the Arcadia Knights and struggled to mount a sizable comeback ultimately dropping the contest 80-56 on Saturday afternoon.
 
DelVal falls to 8-20 on the season and 1-11 in MAC Freedom play while the Knights improve to 16-7 overall and 10-2 in conference action.
 
Alexis Wright put the Aggies on the board just under two minutes into play, but the Knights managed to hold DelVal to just those two points until 6:30 when Ciana Feliciano sunk the layup followed by a 1-of-2 effort from Haley Keenan at the free throw line to cut the deficit to just one, 6-5. Arcadia responded with six unanswered points to take a 12-5 lead. Wright ended the run with a layup to cut the deficit to five with 3:27 to play. The Knights held an 8-5 edge over the Aggies to end the first quarter with an eight-point lead, 20-12.
 
Wright and Haley Keenan combined for four points through the first minute to the cut the deficit down to four, 20-16. The Aggies went nearly point-for-point with the Knights over the next 2:51 with Arcadia holding a slight 5-4 edge to keep a five-point lead, 25-20. Momentum shifted in favor of the Knights who broke open the scoring with an 11-0 run over a two-minute span to take a 16-point lead. Ava Irizarry stepped up from behind the arc to stop the bleeding with a three-pointer shifting the momentum in the direction of DelVal this time using an 10-5 run to cut the deficit to 11, 41-30.
 
The Knights led the Aggies 12-4 in the first five minutes coming out of the half taking a 19-point lead, 53-34. Aubrey Ennis and Wright joined Keenan in the scoring efforts over the ensuing 2:54 with a 9-3 run to trim the deficit to 13, 56-43. The Knights finished off the third frame with a small 5-2 edge to take a 16-point lead into the final quarter, 61-45.
 
Jayla Rivera sunk the long ball to give the Aggies the 3-2 edge through the first three minutes of the fourth quarter with the DelVal defense not allowing a single basket from the Knights for two minutes. Foul trouble sent Arcadia to the line to kick off a 7-2 run to take the 20-point lead, 70-50, with five minutes to play. Arcadia led 10-6 in the final minutes for the 80-56 win.  
 
Keenan led the Aggies in scoring and rebounds tallying 20 total points and 10 boards. Wright also recorded double-digit scoring with 15 points. Keenan also led the stat lines in blocks with three and steals with four.
 
DelVal returns to action for their second-to-last home game against Stevens on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.