Delaware Valley needed a win over a Lycoming team that was tied for last heading into the game or a Drew loss at Wilkes to qualify for the postseason. However, Saturday’s setback and Drew’s 84-70 victory ended the Aggies’ season at 11-13 overall and 7-7 in the Freedom. The Lady Warriors finished 8-17 overall and 3-11 in the conference.
Delaware Valley took an early 13-4 lead as its lone senior, Rachel Joyce, scored six points in the spurt. Lycoming fought back and the two teams then changed lead six times before Allison Palubinsky’s basket with 1:38 to go and a three-point play by Brittany Knopp with 46 seconds left gave the Lady Warriors a 37-36 halftime advantage.
After a Michelle Wisla layup opened the scoring in the second half for Lycoming, Delaware Valley’s Shannon O’Neill drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 39-39. Lycoming notched eight of the next 12 points for a four-point lead, but Brooke Dittmar hit a free throw for the Aggies to make it a 47-44 ballgame with 14:19 remaining.
However, Lycoming responded with 12 straight points, including four apiece by Andrea Cooper and Jessica Nabholz, for a 59-44 lead with 10:44 remaining. The lead swelled to as many as 18, before the Aggies made a final run and pulled to within 11, 72-61, on a bomb by O’Neill with 4:49 to go. Lycoming’s Jessia Zerbee went through the lane for a layup on its next possession and Delaware Valley never got closer than 12 after that.
Zerbee finished with 19 points to pace Lycoming while Cooper added 17. Nabholz also hit double figures with 12 poitns and she also grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
Joyce scored 20 points in her final game for Delaware Valley and, in the process, moved into fifth place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,263 points. The forward finished as Delaware Valley’s all-time leader in made free throws with 467 while her 726 rebounds ranks fourth.
Dittmar had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Donohue scored 11 points while Kim Vennera finished with 10.