DOYLESTOWN (PA) – The Delaware Valley College women's basketball team battled defending national champion and top-ranked FDU-Florham before dropping a 75-67, home decision.
For the Devils, it was their 49th consecutive victory dating back to the beginning of last season when they finished a perfect 33-0 overall. In fact, FDU-Florham (16-0, 5-0) has not lost a regular season contest since being beaten by the Aggies in the 2012-13 campaign.
The Aggies, once again, gave the national champs one of their toughest challenges of the year as they matched the slimmest margin of defeat this season and led the Devils by as many as seven points in the second half. Delaware Valley also committed the fewest turnovers (13) by any opponent of FDU-Florham thus far while seeing its record drop to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in the Freedom Conference.
Delaware Valley started out hot in the early going with an 11-4 run to start the game as three different players connected from beyond the arc. The Devils came storming back with 18 of the next 20 points, including a 17-0 run, to take a 22-13 advantage with 7:16 remaining in the stanza.
The Aggies were able to claw their way back again, thanks to their long range shooting, as four different players contributed 3-pointers over the next five minutes. Brittany Wood hit the last of those bombs off a feed from Brenna Coll with 2:21 on the clock to put Delaware Valley ahead, 28-27. On the ensuing possession, FDU's Kara Dayon was fouled while shooting a three and made two of three from the stripe to put the Devils back up by one. In the final minute, the two squads traded baskets and FDU-Florham took a 31-30 advantage into the break.
In the second half, the Aggies opened up their second seven-point lead of the game, this time at 43-36, after Eireann Anastasi and Shannon Barlow combined for six straight points.
From there, the Devils took over with a 25-6 run that spanned 10 minutes and 30 seconds and resulted in the largest margin of the night for either squad at 61-47.
The Aggies however, refused to go away as they scored nine of the next 13, highlighted by five points from Coll. They eventually cut the deficit to seven after an Anastasi layup but, it proved to be too little too late with less than a minute remaining in the game and FDU-Florham walked away with the 75-67 victory.
Anastasi paced Delaware Valley with 22 points and six assists while Coll contributed 20 points, six rebounds and a pair of assists, blocks and steals. Barlow was the third player in double figures for the Aggies with 12 points to go with four rebounds and four helpers.
FDU-Florham was led by the double-double of Shalette Brown with 16 points and 15 boards. Alyssa McDonough and Kara Dayon added 15 and 12 points respectively while All-American Kyra Dayon was limited to eight points and seven rebounds.