Center Valley, PA (December 6, 2014) – DeSales out-scored Misericordia, 48-29, in the second-half erasing a six-point halftime deficit en route to a 74-61 win over the Cougars in Freedom Conference action on Saturday afternoon in Billera Hall.
Sophomore Morgan McCollian scored a career-high 22 points, pulled down seven rebounds, and blocked five shots in the win as the Bulldogs (5-2, 2-0 Freedom) stay unbeaten in the Freedom Conference. Sophomore Megan Baird stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, a career-high eight rebounds, and a career-high six assists, while senior Mikelyn Mackavage added 12 points.
The Cougars (0-7, 0-2 Freedom) saw three players reach double digits including Justine Seely with 17 points and seven rebounds, Lauren Smicherko with 13 points, and Shelby Brochetti with 13 points off the bench in the loss.
After the Bulldogs opened a 7-3 lead early, MU went on a 16-4 run to take a 19-11 advantage midway thru the first-half. The lead went as high as nine points for the Cougars three times including 25-16 with 5:35 left in the opening half when DSU used an 8-2 run to pull within three before Jaclyn Hajec hit a three at the buzzer to give Misericordia a 32-26 lead at the break.
The Cougars shot 46.7 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while the Bulldogs hit just 35.5 percent from the field.
MU pushed its lead up to nine points (39-30) at the 17:41 mark when the Bulldogs started its run. Eight straight points, including four from McCollian, cut the margin down to one (39-38) with 15:17 left and after Misericordia pushed the lead back up to six points (44-38), DSU scored nine straight points led by five from McCollian and four from Baird to take a 47-44 lead with 11:47 on the clock.
The two teams traded baskets over the next five minutes before the Bulldogs put them away as three's from Baird and Mackavage highlighted a 10-3 run that gave DeSales a 65-57 lead with 3:12 left and DSU cemented the win from the foul line the rest of the way.
After struggling in the opening half, DeSales torched the nets in the second-half hitting 51.6 percent from the field and held Misericordia to just 31.3 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes. The Bulldogs also had more assists (20) than turnovers (15) in the win and hit 17-of-21 (81.0%) from the charity stripe.
The Bulldogs are right back in action on Monday when they host Rosemont College in a non-conference game beginning at 7:00 pm.