DOYLESTOWN (PA) – All-American forward Meghan Nowak scored 22 of Eastern University's 40 points in the second half, including nine straight when host Delaware Valley College pulled to within two, as the Eagles notched a 74-65, Freedom Conference win.
Eastern improved to 7-1 overall and 0-2 in the Freedom while the Aggies dropped to 2-5 and 0-2. Delaware Valley is off until next Saturday, December 13 when it travels to nearby Arcadia University. Conference action does not pick up again until January 14.
The Aggies found themselves trailing by 15, 38-23, early in the second half before they sprinted out to a 14-4 run. Senior forward Brenna Coll fueled the run with 11 points and she also stole a pass and found Agatha Drozd streaking down the court for the fast-break bucket to cut the Eastern lead to 42-41 with 13 minutes remaining.
Delaware Valley had a chance to take the lead, but missed a shot and Nowak hit a three-point play inside at the other end. The Aggies got four of the next six points, but still trailed by two, 47-45, with 11:21 to go.
From there, Nowak took over for the Eagles as Nowak scored the game's next nine points to extend Eastern's lead to 11 at 56-45. Delaware Valley got as close as five, 70-65, down the stretch, but Nowak hit two free throws with 28 seconds left. Teammate Taylor Price added two more for the 74-65 final.
In the first half, Eastern shot 50 percent from the field while the Aggies hit just 23.5 percent of its attempts. Eastern opened up a 10-point lead to start the game after a Gina DiDomenico three-pointer made it 18-8 with 12:28 to play.
The two squads then exchanged baskets over the next seven minutes before Agatha Drozd hit a long trey to pull Delaware Valley to within six at 24-18. The Eagles answered with 10 of the next 12 points before a Delaware Valley 3-pointer sent the Aggies to the locker room trailing 34-23. Delaware Valley made a second-half run but Nowak countered to lead Eastern to the win.
Coll had a big game for the Aggies as she produced 26 points, 19 rebounds, three steals and two assists. In the process, she moved into 12th place on the school's all-time scoring list 1,128 career points. Anastasi finished with 16 points and three steals while Drozd dropped in 13 points and added game-highs of six assists and six steals.
Nowak did her damage by shooting 9-for-11 from the field and 8-for-1- from the foul line. She also had 15 rebounds, including 14 at the defensive end. Emily Lavin had 11 points and seven rebounds while Taylor Price added 10 points and five boards.