Center Valley, PA (February 23, 2019) - The #12/15 ranked DeSales University women's basketball team won its 20th straight game, defeating Misericordia University, 75-59, to claim the program's seventh MAC Freedom Championship on Saturday afternoon in Billera Hall.

The Basics/Notes

• Final Score: DeSales - 75, Misericordia - 59
• Records: DeSales (25-2 overall); Misericordia (22-5 overall)
• The title is DSU's seventh in the MAC Freedom and the first since winning four straight from 2008-11.
• The Bulldogs earn the MAC Freedom's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and will find out their opponent on Monday afternoon.  The Tournament will start on Friday, March 1st.
• The win is also DeSales' 20th straight and also the Bulldogs 19th straight at home, which is two shy of tying the program record of 21 straight wins at home during the 2008-09 seasons.

How it Happened

• Just like in the semifinals DeSales started strong early, taking a 7-0 lead, thanks to five points from freshman Averi Jordan, and led 19-7 after two free throws from senior Morgan Birmelin with 2:01 left in the opening quarter.
• The Cougars' responded scoring the final seven points of the quarter to pull within five (19-14) after the first 10 minutes.
• It was back-and-forth the entire second quarter as DSU got into foul trouble but continued to lead throughout and freshman Emma Stanfield gave DSU a six-point cushion (34-28) at the break on a put-back jumper as time expired on the half.
• DSU slowly increased its lead to double digits in the third quarter despite getting into major foul trouble as seven different players had at least three fouls after three quarters of play.
• The lead was 15 (48-33) at the 5:21 mark on a lay-up from Jordan but was whittled down to just eight by the end of the quarter by Misericordia (55-47).
• DSU clung to a three-point advantage (57-54) at the 7:26 mark when Jordan scored in the paint and Birmelin converted a lay-up with 6:26 to go giving DSU a seven-point lead.
• Those two buckets ignited an 11-2 run that gave DSU a 68-56 lead with 3:54 to go and the Bulldogs defense took over holding Misericordia to just three points the rest of the way as Jordan put an exclamation point on the win with a three from the left corner giving DeSales a 75-58 lead with 44 seconds left.

Top Bulldog Performers

• Birmelin earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors scoring 19 points and added eight assists in the five steals in the win.
• Jordan was terrific in the championship game win, totaling 18 points and pulling down six boards.
• Junior Molly Jansco had a clutch second-half netting 10 points off the bench.
• Stanfield also played big off the bench with seven points, seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

For the Foes

• Kalynn Sefcik led the Cougars with 12 points.
• Paige Wampole finished with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds).
• Leanne Forsyth added 10 points in the loss.

Inside the Box Score

• DeSales forced 22 Cougar turnovers leading to 22 Bulldog points.
• Misericordia entered the game out-rebounding opponents by 6.4 rebounds per game and DSU won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding MU, 41-36.
• The Bulldogs also committed just 14 turnovers and were 19-for-21 (90.5 percent) from the free throw line.