MADISON (NJ) – FDU-Florham outscored visiting Delaware Valley College, 55-19, in the second half as the defending national champion and third-ranked Devils ended the regular season with an 89-52, Freedom Conference triumph.
The win was the 59th in the last 60 games for FDU-Florham, which went 24-1 overall and 13-1 in league play this season. The Devils will be the top seed in the upcoming Freedom Conference tournament and will have a return match-up with the Aggies, who fell to 13-12 overall, 8-6 and tied for third in the Freedom (tied with DeSales University but the Bulldogs will be the third seed due to tiebreakers). The semifinals will take place on Wednesday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m.
It will be a similar set-up to last year when Delaware Valley fell to FDU-Florham in the regular-season finale and had a rematch four days later in Madison, New Jersey. The Aggies took a lead with 3:46 remaining in the semifinal contest – the latest the Devils trailed all season – before FDU-Florham rallied for the 56-49 win and it went all the way to a national championship.
Delaware Valley led for nearly all of the first half, including an 11-2 start to Saturday's contest. The Aggies built their advantage to as many as 12, 26-14, after Kacy Peyton hit a layup with 9:16 to go.
It was still an eight-point game, 31-23, with 5:18 left in the first half, when the Devils scored four straight. Sam Foy hit inside with 2:27 left for a 33-27 lead, but FDU-Florham scored the final seven points, including a 3-pointer by Alyssa McDonough with 15 ticks left, to take a 34-33 advantage into the break.
The second half was all Devils as they opened the stanza with an 11-2 run and ended it with a 20-2 spurt. They shot 50 percent from the field (8-for-14 effort from 3-point land) and had a 28-10 advantage on the boards. Meanwhile, Delaware Valley, which shot 48.3 percent in the first half, was only 7-for-29 (24.1%) in the second stanza, including 1-for-13 (7.7%) from beyond the arc.
Five FDU-Florham players hit double figures in scoring, including Kara Dayon and Delisha Thompson, who had 16 points apiece. Shalette Brown added 14 points and 17 rebounds while Leigh-Ann Lively had 13 points. Kyra Dayon added 10 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win.
Eireann Anastasi notched 17 points, six rebounds and five assists to pace the Aggies. Brenna Coll had 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, leaving the senior just four points shy of becoming the first player in program history to score 1,400 points (1,396) and grab 700 rebounds (761) in a career.