St. David's, PA (January 28, 2017) – Senior Morgan McCollian scored a season-high 29 points leading the DeSales University women's basketball team past Eastern University, 65-56, in MAC Freedom action on Saturday afternoon.
 
McCollain shot 12-for-14 from the field and added nine rebounds in the win.  Sophomore Morgan Birmelin added 12 points, sophomore Leandra Sterner had 10 points, and freshman Molly Jansco played very well finishing with six points, nine rebounds, and three assists.
 
Eastern (13-6, 4-4 MAC Freedom) got 13 points each from Amanda Riiff and Emily Lavin and 12 points from Regie Robinson.
 
The Bulldogs (15-4, 7-1 MAC Freedom) took control early using an 11-2 run after EU made the first basket of the game to lead 11-5 and led by eight (19-11) after one quarter.  The advantage swelled to as many as 11 points (29-18) before the Eagles closed the half on a 10-1 run as DeSales took a 30-28 lead into the halftime locker room.
 
A back-and-forth start to the second half saw DeSales clinging to a one-point lead (38-37) when the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to reclaim command holding a 49-40 lead after three quarters.
 
The lead grew to 13 points early in the fourth quarter on a back-to-back layups from Jansco before Eastern chipped away and got within five points (57-52) with 4:16 left to play.
 
A Birmelin on the next possession pushed the lead up to seven and after an Eagle bucket, McCollian had a huge offensive rebound and put-back giving DSU a 61-54 lead with 1:40 to go and Sterner/McCollian went 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch to ice the victory.
 
DSU shot 50 percent from the field and controlled the paint on the offensive end outscoring Eastern, 44-26, in the paint.  The Bulldogs also took advantage of Eastern's 17 turnovers scoring 19 points.
 
The Bulldogs are back in action and stay on the road Wednesday when they travel to Manhattanville College for another MAC Freedom game beginning at 6:00 pm.