Women's Basketball

FREEDOM CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
University of Scranton 96, Delaware Valley 64

SCRANTON (PA) -The Delaware Valley College women's basketball team saw its season come to an end with a 96-64 loss at fourth-ranked University of Scranton in the Freedom Conference semifinals.

The Aggies, who were in the conference playoffs for the fourth straight year and the fifth time in the last six seasons, finished the 2003-04 campaign with a 12-13 record. Meanwhile, the Lady Royals improved to 24-2 and will host King's College (a 58-41 upset winner at DeSales University) in Saturday's Freedom Conference Championship game.

Scranton jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first 4:15 of the game with all 13 points coming from freshman Taryn Mellody, including a trio of 3-pointers. Delaware Valley responded by scoring nine straight - seven by senior Shannon McCormick - to make it a two-point game, 13-11, with 13:14 remaining in the first half.

Later in the half, the Lady Royals used a 17-2 run to open up a 45-21 lead with 3:03 remaining. They eventually took a 51-27 advantage in the intermission and Delaware Valley could not cut into that deficit the rest of the way.

Bridget Golden, who a day earlier was named to the all-Freedom Conference first team, finished with 22 points to pace the Aggies. Her 270 rebounds on the season not only paced the conference but also ranked fourth on the school's single-season list. She also tied for second on the single-season list with 60 blocks.

McCormick notched 21 points and eight rebounds in the final game of her collegiate career. Her 445 career rebounds ranks 10th on the Delaware Valley all-time list and she became the first player in Aggie women's basketball history to reach the conference playoffs in all four years of her career.

Freshman Rachel Joyce also hit double figures for the Aggies with 10 points and a career-best 21 rebounds, including 14 boards in the first half.

Mellody scored a game-high 25 points for Scranton while the backcourt of Katie Dougherty and Kate Pierangeli combined for 24 points and 10 assists. Maura Kane added 10 off the bench in the victory.