Women's Basketball

DeSales University 80, Delaware Valley 50

CENTER VALLEY (PA) - DeSales University, ranked 23rd in the latest D3hoops.com poll, jumped out to a 14-0 lead and avenged an earlier season loss to Delaware Valley College by defeating the visiting Aggies, 80-50, in a Freedom Conference game.

The Bulldogs improved to 19-4 overall, 9-3 and in second place in the conference. They now trail third-ranked University of Scranton by 1½ games for first place as Scranton dropped a 70-65 decision at King's College. DeSales can still grab the top spot in the conference and home court throughout the Freedom playoffs with home victories over Wilkes and Lycoming this week as well as a Scranton loss at Delaware Valley on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Aggies are 12-11 overall and 7-6 in the Freedom Conference. They are still in the fourth and final playoff spot, but lead Drew University (6-6) and Lycoming College (6-6) by just half a game.

Delaware Valley needs to upset Scranton on Saturday or have Drew lose both of its remaining games at Lycoming and at Wilkes to reach the playoffs. Drew currently holds the tiebreaker edge in a head-to-head situation with Delaware Valley thanks to last week's win versus King's, but the Aggies would regain the tiebreaker with a victory over Scranton.

If Lycoming downs Drew on Thursday (they also travel to DeSales on Saturday), the Warriors can possibly force a three-way tie at 7-7. That situation would send them to the postseason because of a 3-1 record against Drew and Delaware Valley.

Delaware Valley upset DeSales, 65-60, back on January 21 when the Bulldogs were ranked 20th in Division III, but the Bulldogs came out flying on Tuesday night to get their revenge. They needed just six seconds to hit the scoreboard as Amy Yencho nailed a jumper. She followed with a 3-pointer as did Jen Netwall for an 8-0 lead. Back-to-back buckets by Liz Kelly and a jumper by Holly Liebl extended the advantage to 14-0 and Delaware Valley never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Yencho finished with a game-high 20 points while Netwall added 17 points, six rebounds and six assists. Alyssa Antolick added 13 points, eight assists and six rebounds while Kirby Lutz also hit double figures with 12 points.

Ashley Ziegler led Delaware Valley by scoring 12 points off the bench, including a trio of 3-pointes. Kate McCarthy joined her in double figures with 10 points. Bridget Golden, the team's leading scorer (15.7 avg) and rebounder (11.0 avg), was held to just six points and seven rebounds.