Center Valley, PA (December 20, 2016) - The DeSales University women's basketball team never trailed and shot 55.0 percent from the field in an 88-67 win over 19th ranked Albright College earning its fifth straight win in non-conference action on Tuesday evening in Billera Hall.

Rust was not a factor for the Bulldogs who were playing for the first time in 13 days as DSU (7-1) hit 10-of-20 from three-point land in the win despite the long layoff for final exams.

Sophomore Leandra Sterner led the offensive charge with 22 points, hitting five three-pointers.  Senior Morgan McCollian was one rebound shy of a double-double with 19 points (15 in the second-half) and nine boards, while fellow senior Megan Baird contributed with 13 points.  Sophomore Katie Miller continued her hot shooting with eight points and senior Nikki Callahan had a game-high seven assists in the win.

Albright (7-2) got a game-high 23 points from Shannon Thomas, 15 points and seven rebounds from Alysha Lofton and 14 points from Mikayla Lea in the loss.

DeSales was hot from the very start as Miller and Baird opened the game with back-to-back 3's around a Lion hoop to take a 6-2 lead.  A 6-0 run near the end of the first quarter pushed the lead up to 11 points before a Sterner three with 40 seconds left gave the Bulldogs a 24-12 lead after one quarter.  The margin was double digits for nearly the entire second quarter with Albright pulling within nine once before DSU enjoyed a 44-34 lead as both teams headed into the halftime locker room.

Both teams shot well in the first-half with DeSales hitting 56.7 percent from the field (8-for-13 from outside the arc) and the Lions converting 44.8 percent.  AC kept itself in the game scoring 11 points off 11 Bulldog turnovers in the opening half.

The lead was still 11 points with 4:49 to go in the third quarter when AC made a run using a 7-0 spurt to pull within four points at the 2:06 mark before DSU stopped the run with back-to-back buckets from Miller and Baird as DSU clung to a 58-52 advantage after three quarters of play.

A six point game at the 8:56 mark of the fourth quarter was extended to 13 points by a 7-0 Bulldog run lead by five points from McCollian and Albright never got any closer than eight points the rest of the way before the final tally was posted.

After allowing 11 points off its turnovers in the first-half, the Bulldogs did not allow a single point off a turnover in the second-half.  DSU's bench out-scored the Lions, 40-5, in the game and DeSales also controlled the paint outscoring Albright 38-24 in the colored area.

The Bulldogs are now off for nine days for the Christmas holidays and will return to action on December 29th when they travel to the Juniata College Tournament to take on The College of New Jersey on day one of the tournament.