Women's Basketball

FREEDOM CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
DeSales University 78, Delaware Valley College 72

CENTER VALLEY (PA) - Delaware Valley College made a valiant effort to upset 23rd-ranked DeSales University, but the fourth-seeded Aggies dropped a 78-72 road decision in the Freedom Conference semifinals.

Delaware Valley's season came to an end with a 13-13 overall record and its sixth conference playoff berth in the last eight years. The Bulldogs won their 12th straight and improved to 23-3 on the year. They will host third-seeded FDU-Florham, which upset No. 2 King's College in Wednesday's other semifinal, in the Freedom Conference Championship Game and an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs on Saturday.

Delaware Valley held an early six-point lead and was still up five, 13-8, at the midway point of the first half. DeSales rallied for a 25-20 lead, but a Brittany Batinieri basket and a Moira Donohue trey tied the game with 3:50 to go.

The Bulldogs then ran off nine straight points and 13 of the next 15 for a 38-27 lead with under a minute to go before the break. Leigh Ann Burke led DeSales with eight points in the spurt.

Delaware Valley battled back as Battinieri drained a trey from the top of the key and Donohue stole the inbounds pass and was fouled. She hit both free throws with 12.8 seconds left to make it 38-32, but DeSales answered at the other end on an Amanda Kuperavage drive and bucket just before the buzzer for a 40-32 advantage at the intermission.

The Bulldogs took their largest lead of the game at 14, 56-42, as Megan Montchyk connected from beyond the arc with 12:05 remaining. However, Delaware Valley roared back with a 13-3 run to get with four, 59-55, with 6:54 left on the clock.

The Aggies' run began with a Battinieri 3-pointer and Kim Vennera followed with back-to-back layups to make it 56-49. Kim Rarick answered with a jumper for DeSales, but a pair of free by Dittmar was countered by just one from Erica Sovak for a 59-51 Bulldog lead. Delaware Valley's Jessica Ruvolis then hit a short jumper and Brooke Dittmar had a putback for the four-point deficit.

DeSales went 3-for-4 from the foul line to boost the advantage to seven, but Vennera hit a jumper in the pain with the shot clock at one for a 62-57 ballgame with 5:07 to go. The Bulldogs then scored seven of the next 10 for a nine-point lead, but the Aggies kept battling back into striking range. They got to within six, 70-64, on a Kim Vennera drive with 1:24 to go, but the Bulldogs countered with three from the charity stripe. With 33 seconds to go, Delaware Valley made it a five-point game as Donohue hit a free throw and Dittmar rebounded and put back Donohue's miss on the second attempt.

DeSales' Jenna Stampf was fouled three seconds later and hit both free throws for a 76-69 score. Donohue then drained the 189th and final 3-pointer of her career - a 28 footer - with 26 ticks to go for a four-point deficit. Donohue picked her up her fifth and final foul five seconds later and Stamp once again hit a pair from the line for the 78-72 final.

Dittmar was dominant inside in the final game of her career. The center and reigning conference player of the week scored 18 points and grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds to follow her 25-points, 21-rebound showing at King's in the regular-season finale. Dittmar finished sixth on the all-time rebounding list with 636 while her 282 rebounds on the year tied two others for second on the single-season list.

Donohue had 15 points, four assists and five steals while her two treys upped her single-season record to 76. In addition to the all-time 3-point record, the senior finished in the career top five for assists (third with 349), steals (third with 243) and points (fifth with 1,336).

Sophomore guard Kim Vennera notched 18 points and seven rebounds while freshman guard Brittany Battinieri finished with 15 points and six boards in the loss.

Rarick led all scorers with 22 points while Burke finished with 19 points. Stampf ended the evening with 11 points, including a 7-for-10 showing from the foul line.