Basketball

Delaware Valley 71, Lebanon Valley College 67

ANNVILLE (PA) - Rachel Joyce continued her strong play in Lebanon Valley College's gymnasium and Laura Hogan became the all-time winningest coach in Delaware Valley women's basketball history as the Aggies notched a 71-67 road victory over the Flying Dutchmen in a non-conference game.

The win improved the Aggies to 5-2 on the season with one game remaining this semester - a home meeting with Penn State Abington on December 20. Lebanon Valley fell to 2-5 with the loss.

The victory was also the 117th of Hogan's nine-plus year head coaching career. The 1990 Delaware Valley grad surpassed her coach, Gary Pento, who was 116-107 from 1984 to 1993. Hogan has a 117-119 career mark while leading the Aggies to five Middle Atlantic Conference/Freedom Conference playoff berths and three Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) postseason berths, including an ECAC Southern Region Championship in 2001.

It was the third game that Delaware Valley won at Lebanon Valley this season as the Aggies posted victories over Roanoke College (67-55) and the Flying Dutchmen (79-62) to capture the season-opening Rinso Marquette Tournament.

Joyce was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament as she recorded 39 points, 21 rebounds and five assists in the two games, including a 15-point, 13-rebound showing against Lebanon Valley. This time, Joyce shot 7-for-19 from the field and was 7-for-10 from the foul line to finish with game-highs of 21 points and 13 reobunds in 37 minutes of action.

It was a back-and-forth contest that featured 14 ties - the last being 62-62 with 3:36 remaining. Lebanon Valley then took a two-point lead on an Amie Bickert layup with 2:06 to go.

However, the Aggies put the game away by scoring nine of the final 12 points. Shannon O'Neill began the run and gave Delaware Valley the lead for good as she drilled a 3-pointer with 1:42 remaining. The Aggies got their next four points off a free throw apiece by Joyce and Brooke Dittmar and a layup from Moira Donohue for a 69-64 advantage with 14 seconds to go.

Shannon Kueny kept Lebanon Valley alive with a trey with eight seconds remaining and the team fouled O'Neill a second later. The sophomore point guard hit both free throws for the 71-67 final.

O'Neill finished with 16 points and five rebounds while Juli McGowan also added 16 points. Donohue notched nine points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Megan Bish and Monica Johnson each had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Flying Dutchmen.