Center Valley, PA (February 17, 2015) – The streak continues as sophomore Morgan McCollian led a dominating second-half performance with 19 of her game-high 27 points leading the DeSales University women's basketball team past Manhattanville College, 75-57, clinching DSU's 18^th straight berth in the Freedom Conference post-season tournament on Tuesday evening in Billera Hall.
 
The Bulldogs (14-10, 8-5 Freedom) joined the conference in 1997-98 and head coach Fred Richter has led them to the conference post-season in every season, 18-straight now, with today's win.  DSU is currently tied with Delaware Valley College in third place.  The Bulldogs currently own the tiebreaker over the Aggies but need DelVal to lose at FDU-Florham on Saturday to maintain its advantage in the tiebreaker.  An Aggie win over FDU would then give the tiebreaker to Delaware Valley.  If the Aggies lose at FDU, DSU maintains the tiebreaker and would be the #3 seed.
 
McCollian was outstanding in the second-half as the Bulldogs out-scored the Valiants (10-14, 1-12 Freedom) by 15 over the final 20 minutes.  She finished with her ninth double-double of the season, posting 27 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, while also adding four blocks.
 
Senior Mikelyn Mackavage was just as terrific in the second-half, scoring all 14 of her points after halftime, hitting four three-pointers.  Senior Alex Suk added 10 points and pulled down six rebounds and junior Kelly Anthony led the charge on the glass, ripping down 12 rebounds and scoring seven points.  Sophomore Nikki Callahan dished out a career-high eight assists.
 
MVC was led by Ashley Raaf with 17 points and eight rebounds and Bri Pabon added 16 points in the loss as the lone double digit scorers for the Valiants.
 
A slow start in the first-half saw DSU take control late using a 7-0 run to take a 31-22 lead before Manhattanville finished the half on an 8-2 spurt to pull within three at the break (33-30).  DeSales shot just 31.3 percent in the opening half and MVC stayed in the game hitting 14-for-28 from the field.
 
The second-half was all Bulldogs as DSU shot 56.7 percent from the field in the second-half and dominated play.
 
A quick 13-2 run to start the half quickly pushed the lead up to 14 points (46-32) thanks in part to three treys from Mackavage during the spurt.
 
MVille cut the margin down to nine points over the next three minutes but a 12-2 run gave DSU a 62-43 lead with 8:32 remaining and the Bulldogs never looked back from there.
 
DeSales completely dominated the paint, scoring 38 of their 75 points in the paint, out-rebounding MVC, 48-26, which led to 25 second-chance points.  DSU also did an excellent job at the free throw line, hitting 76.2 percent for the game.
 
The Bulldogs finish the regular season on Saturday, hosting Eastern University in Billera Hall beginning at 1:00 pm.