Basketball

Delaware Valley 72, FDU-Florham 61

DOYLESTOWN (PA) - Moira Donohue had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the Delaware Valley College women's basketball team to a crucial, 72-61 home victory over FDU-Florham in a Freedom Conference game.

The win improved the Aggies to 14-6 overall, 6-3 in conference play with five games remaining. They are now in sole possession of second place, a half game ahead of DeSales which plays on Wednesday. Delaware Valley also earned a sweep of the season series with FDU-Florham (13-6, 4-5), which may prove to be critical in a tiebreaker situation down the stretch. The top four teams qualify for the Freedom Conference playoffs.

The Aggies led for most of the contest, including a 26-23 advantage at halftime. FDU-Florham stayed within four, before a 9-2 Delaware Valley run made it a 42-31 ballgame with 12:41 remaining. Rachel Joyce scored four of the nine points in the spurt.

The Aggies then built their largest lead at 14, 64-50, with 3:27 remaining, but the Devils notched 11 of the next 14 points to trail by just six, 67-61, with 1:08 remaining. However, Delaware Valley hit five of six free throws down the stretch to ice the game.

Donohue had 11 of her 20 points in the second half, including two of her three, 3-pointers. She also added four assists and two steals in 39 minutes of action. Joyce finished with 16 points and five boards while Shannon O'Neill recorded 11 points and four assists. Brooke Dittmar hit double figures for the second straight game as she poured in 10 points and added seven boards.

Ashley Flaherty paced FDU-Florham with 20 points and 10 rebounds, including the 1,000th point of her career in the early stages of the second half. Danielle Yasko and Emily Cerankowski added 13 and 10 points respectively.