Women's Basketball

FREEDOM CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
King's College 81, Delaware Valley 53

WILKES-BARRE (PA) -- The Delaware Valley College women's basketball team saw its season come to an end with an 81-53 loss at 10th-ranked King's College in the Freedom Conference semifinals.

The Aggies end their year with an 11-15 record and their third playoff appearance in a row. King's improved to 22-3 on the season and will host seventh-ranked DeSales University in the conference's championship game on Saturday.

Down 21-10 midway through the first half, Delaware Valley went on a 7-1 run, including a 3-pointer by Amber Smolinsky, to cut its deficit to four at 21-17 with 7:37 o go before intermission.

However, the Lady Monarchs answered with a 14-3 run and never looked back. They led by 18, 43-25, at halftime and built the advantage to as many 30 points in the second stanza.

The Aggies shot just 26.3 percent from the field and were outrebounded by a 50-38 margin. Junior center Sarah Tuffner had a big night with 17 points and a career-high 21 rebounds. Freshman guard Kate McCarthy also reached double figures with 15 points.

Delaware Valley's top two leading scorers - Smolinsky (18.1 avg) and Bridget Golden (13.3 avg) - shot a combined 1-for-18 from the field and were held to just seven and one point respeticely. Smolinsky ended her stellar career as the Aggies' fourth all-time leading scorer with 1,409 points. She was a second team all-conference selection last year and is a top candidate for first or second-team honors this season.

Tiffini Varrasse paced King's with 16 points and five assists. Jen Wozniak and Nikki Kingston added 13 and 11 points respectively.