DOYLESTOWN (PA) – Delaware Valley College shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half and ended the game with a 20-7 run as the host Aggies rallied from a 17-point, second-half deficit to down Eastern Mennonite University, 68-63, in a non-conference game.
Delaware Valley improved to 3-6 overall and will conclude the first semester with a non-conference tilt against Cabrini College on Monday. It will be the fifth home game over an eight-day span for the Aggies, who are 2-2 over that time. Eastern Mennonite fell to 4-4 on the year.
The Royals dominated the first half as they scored forced 11 turnovers and converted them into 16 points, many of them on fast breaks. Nine different players hit the scoring column as they took a 40-25 advantage into the break.
The second half was a complete different story as Eastern Mennonite managed just four, fast-break points while Delaware Valley took advantage of 11 Royal turnovers and converted them into 16 points.
The Royals did notch the first bucket of the stanza for its largest lead of the contest. However, Delaware Valley stormed back with an 11-2 run to make it a 44-36 contest with 15:54 remaining. Eastern Mennonite responded with six straight to build its lead back up to 14, but the Aggies scored 12 of the next 15, including seven by Brenna Coll to trail by just five, 53-48, with 9:18 remaining.
The Royals came back down the court and saw Steph Rheinheimer drained a 3-pointer just as the clocked ticked under the nine-minute mark for an eight-point lead. The rest of the contest belonged to Aggies as Emily Soper began it with a bucket inside and Agatha Drozd and Coll had back-to-back, fast-break layups. Coll snuck through for another layup to tie the game at 56 with 6:44 to go and Bridget Sobon followed shortly after with a pair of free throws to give Delaware Valley its first lead of the game.
Eastern Mennonite answered at the other end to tie it up, but Sobon drove through the defense and hit a layup with 3:09 on the clock to regain the lead for the Aggies and they never gave it up from there. Keyla Baltimore did hit one of two free throws for the Royals just 14 seconds later, but a pair of free throws from Drozd, a jumper from Coll and one free throw from Sobon upped the Delaware Valley lead to six, 65-59 with 1:08 remaining.
Eastern Mennonite hit a layup and forced a turnover, but it missed two shots inside and Soper was fouled after snagging her 10th rebound of the game. The senior hit both foul shots to put the lead back up to six and Eireann Anastasi later hit a free throw to make it a three-possession game and seal the comeback win for Delaware Valley.
The Aggies hit 15 of their 24 shots from the field in the second half while they limited the Royals to 22 percent shooting (9-for-41). They also overcame 14, Eastern Mennonite offensive rebounds over those final 20 minutes and 23 for the game.
Coll finished with a game-high 18 points (15 in the second half) and also added nine rebounds and five assists. Drozd followed with 17 points and six boards while Soper had another double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Sobon came off the bench to pour in 11 points.
Bianca Ygarza led the Royals with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Raiven Patterson had 11 points while Alisa Brown added nine points. Baltimore finished with five points, nine rebounds and seven assists.