WILKES-BARRE (PA) – Delaware Valley College held host Wilkes University to 27.1 percent shooting for the game, including 11.5 percent in the first half, as the Aggies moved into a tie for third place in the Freedom Conference with a 60-49 triumph.

Delaware Valley improved to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in the league standings. The Aggies are now tied for third with DeSales University, which fell at defending national champion FDU-Florham on Saturday. Both teams are one game ahead of King's College and Delaware Valley hosts the Lady Monarchs on Tuesday, February 17 for the next to last game of the regular season (the Aggies close it out at FDU-Florham next Saturday). A win by the Aggies would clinch a second straight Freedom Conference tournament berth.

Delaware Valley trailed just once in Saturday's game with Wilkes (9-12, 4-8) and that was at 2-0 in the opening minutes. After that early Lady Colonel basket, the Aggies ran off 19 straight points to take a 17-point lead with 8:18 left in the half. Six different players scored in the run, including Kelsey Kilpatrick with six points and Agatha Drozd with five.

Wilkes hit the scoreboard but its next six points came from the foul line. In fact, the Lady Colonels went a span of nearly 15 minutes between field goals as Elena Stambone hit a layup at 17:21 and then hit a jumper with 2:39 remaining. They hit just three of 26 shots from the field, including a 1-for-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Delaware Valley hit four treys, shot 32 percent from the field and took a 26-13 halftime lead.

The Aggies built their lead to as many as 18 in the second half and maintained a double-digit advantage throughout most of the stanza. Wilkes got to within nine points on four occasions, all in the last minute of the game.

Delaware Valley shot 43.5 percent from the field in the second half and hit another four shots from downtown. Meanwhile, its defense continued to play strong and limited Wilkes to 39.4 percent from the field in those 20 minutes. For the game, the Lady Colonels managed to just 16 of 59 shots and turned the ball over 20 times.

Eireann Anastasi led the Aggies with 22 points, including a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line. She also added six assists and five rebounds. Kilpatrick hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 10 points. Brittany Wood add nine points and 11 rebounds while Drozd and Brenna Coll had seven points each while combined for 13 rebounds, eight steals and five assists.

Stambone notched 26 of Wilkes' 49 points on the afternoon. Chelsea Brown added six points and 11 rebounds in the loss.