Women's Basketball

The University of Scranton 64, Delaware Valley College 60

SCRANTON (PA) - The University of Scranton rallied from a 10-point deficit in the last four minutes of the game as the seventh-ranked Lady Royals survived an upset bid from visiting Delaware Valley College and posted a 64-60, Freedom Conference victory.

Scranton improved to 21-2 overall and a perfect 12-0 in conference while the loss dropped the Aggies to 10-12 overall and 6-6 in the Freedom. The Delaware Valley loss, combined with Drew University's 67-49 upset victory over second place King's College, put the schools into a deadlock for the fourth and final playoff spot in the conference as they enter the final week of the regular season.

Delaware Valley holds the tiebreaker as the Aggies swept the season series from Drew, but the Rangers have the easier schedule as they host sixth place and archrival FDU-Florham on Tuesday while Delaware Valley travels to third place DeSales University. Both Delaware Valley and Drew then end the regular season against teams that are tied for last in the conference next Saturday as the Aggies host Lycoming College and the Rangers hot the road to Wilkes University,

Delaware Valley looked like it was going to move one step closer to a playoff berth and pull off one of the big upsets in Divison III this year as a pair of free throws by Rachel Joyce with 3:32 left on the clock gave the Aggies a 58-48 lead.

The Lady Royals began its rally as All-American Taryn Mellody drained a 3-pointer and Kathleen Daly and Tiffaney Williams hit back-to-back layups to make it 58-55 with 2:10 remaining. Delaware Valley's Moira Donohue was fouled with 1:50 and she hit both shots for a 60-55 advantage.

However, those were the last points the Aggies would score on the afternoon. Mellody hit one of two free throws with 1:37 to go and Willaims followed 20 seconds later with a layup while being fouled. She missed the attempt, leaving the score 60-58. Williams went to the charity stripe again with 53 ticks and she hit one of two shots to pull to within one.

Following a Delaware Valley possession, Mellody hit a turnaround jumper with 29 seconds left for a 61-60 Lady Royals' lead - their first of the game since 1:52 into the contest. Fellow Scranton All-American Allison Matt then recorded a steal and was fouled with 12 seconds to go. She hit both shots for a three-point advantage. Delaware Valley came down the court looking to tie the game but Matt swiped the ball away and was fouled with five seconds remaining. She hit one shot to make it a two-possession game and the Lady Royals escaped with their 59th consecutive win at home and their 42nd straight conference victory.

Delaware Valley, which dropped a tough 66-63 home decision to Scranton just 17 days earlier, came flying out of the gates and scored 16 of the game's first 22 points. The Aggies held a double-digit for the most of the half before Scranton pulled to within nine, 30-21, with 4:02 to go before the intermission.

Delaware Valley nailed seven straight, on layups by Brooke Dittmar and Shannon O'Neill and a trey from O'Neill, for its largest lead of the contest, 37-21. However, the Lady Royals scored six in a row to end the half and trail 37-27 at the break.

Scranton continued its spurt by scoring the first six points of the second stanza to get to within four, but the Aggies responded with a 9-2 run, including three each by Dittmar and Moira Donohue, to bump the advantage back up to 11, 46-35, with 14:18 remaining. The Aggies advantage then floated between six and 10 points until the final four minutes and the late Scranton rally.

Joyce finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds and went over the 1,200-point plateau (1,218) for her career. The senior notched 13 of her points from the foul line (13-for-15) and, in the process, became Delaware Valley's all-time leader with 449 made free throws.

Donohue notched 15 points and five steals while Dittmar nearly had a double-double with 13 points and nine boards. O'Neill added seven points and six assists in the loss.

Mellody had a game-high 22 points to pace the Lady Royals. Williams finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Matt added 11 points and five assists.