St. David's, PA (February 25, 2015) – The DeSales University women's basketball erased a 23-point deficit, pulling to within four points, late in the second-half but ultimately fell short falling to Eastern University, 72-63, in the Freedom Conference Tournament semifinals on Wednesday evening.
 
The loss ends the Bulldogs season with a 14-12 overall record as they made their 18^th consecutive appearance in the Freedom Conference Tournament.  Eastern advances to take on top seed FDU-Florham in the championship game on Saturday.
 
Sophomore Morgan McCollian led the Bulldogs with 21 points and 11 rebounds, recording her 10^th double-double of the season in the loss.  Sophomore Megan Baird added 13 points and freshman Kaitlin Kelly came off the bench to score eight points and hand out six assists.
 
Eastern saw four players reach double digits including senior Meghan Nowak with 21 points.  Senior Gina DiDomenico finished with 16 points, senior Kaitlyn Dougherty added 13 points, and freshman Taylor Price finished with 10 points.  Sophomore Emily Lavin had eight points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks in the win.
 
Eastern (22-4 overall) led throughout the entire first-half and by as many as 11 points (26-15) before the Bulldogs closed the half on a quick 7-2 run to get within six points (28-22) at the break.
 
DSU held the Eagles to just 35.5 percent shooting in the opening half and got a big boost from its bench, scoring 14 points, led by six from Kelly.
 
EU remained in control thru the first 10 minutes of the second-half, slowly extending its lead to as many as 23 points (51-28) and continued to lead by 22 (56-34) with 9:56 to go when the Bulldogs made a run.
 
A technical foul on the Eastern's head coach Nate Davis sparked a 25-7 run over the next 6:19 as DSU trimmed the 22-point deficit all the way down to four points on a three from Baird at the 3:32 mark.  McCollian led the charge with 13 of her 22 points and Baird hit three 3's during the stretch.
 
Eastern answered the three from Baird at 3:32 with a jumper from DiDomenico and after trading points over the next two possessions, DSU trailed by six (67-61) with 1:51 left.
 
Both teams went scoreless over the next 1:07 forcing DSU to foul the Eagles and Eastern iced the win from the free throw line hitting 5-for-6 over the final 44 seconds to earn a trip to the conference title game.
 
DSU finished the game shooting 37.5 percent from the field and forced 26 Eagle turnovers, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over 29 times themselves and EU shot 41.7 percent for the game en route to the win.