CENTER VALLEY (PA) – DeSales University scored 14 straight points and 22 of 24 early in the second half as the Bulldogs pulled away to a 74-51 victory over visiting Delaware Valley College in a Freedom Conference game.

The two teams were tied for third place in the Freedom heading into the contest and the Aggies had the tiebreaker edge with a win at home over DeSales. The Bulldogs improved to 16-4 overall and 6-3 in the league while Delaware Valley fell to 12-8 and 5-4. The Aggies still ended the evening with a two-game lead over both Manhatttanville College and Misericordia University, which both lost on Thursday, for the fourth and final conference tournament berth with five games remaining.

Both teams struggled shooting in the first half as Delaware Valley hit just six of 26 shots from the field (23.1%) while DeSales was 9-for-27 (33.3%). Both combined for 5-for-23 from 3-point land. Both held leads of as many as five with the Bulldogs having a late spurt to take a 26-22 advantage into the intermission. The Aggies' point total came from just three players as Eireann Anastasi had 12 points (8-for-8 from the foul line) while Brittany Wood and Brenna Coll contributed eight and two points respectively.

DeSales was still up four when it went scored 14 straight points to take a 47-29 advantage with 12:22 remaining. Sandrine Glovas began the spurt with a 3-pointer and hit another trey along the way. Alexiah Grant added six points as well as the Bulldogs also took advantage of three Delaware Valley turnovers.

Coll hit a tough basket inside to put the Aggies back on the board, but six points from Grant and two from Glovas made it a 22-2 overall run and a 55-31 lead for the Bulldogs with 8:57 remaining. Delaware Valley never got closer than 20 points the rest of the way.

DeSales finished shooting 42.4 percent from the field compared to 28.1 percent from the Aggies. Grant poured in 27 points, including 16 in the second half. Glovas had 13 points while Megan Gallagher added 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Anastasi finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals for Delaware Valley. Wood had 12 points while Coll ended the night with eight points, nine rebounds and four assists.