Center Valley, PA (January 4, 2017) - The DeSales University women's basketball team held Eastern University to just 48 points and 24.0 percent shooting in a 64-48 win in the MAC Freedom opener for both teams on Wednesday evening in Billera Hall.

Four players reached double digits for the Bulldogs (9-2, 1-0 MAC Freedom) including sophomore Leandra Sterner, sophomore Morgan Birmelin, and senior Megan Baird with 13 points a piece, while junior Kaitlin Kelly added 10 points off the bench.  Senior Morgan McCollian had a game-high 10 rebounds and blocked three shots and Birmelin added six assists.

Eastern (9-3, 0-1 MAC Freedom) got 13 points and seven rebounds from senior Emily Lavin and sophomore Regie Robinson finished with 12 points and nine boards in the loss.

After EU scored the first basket of the game, the Bulldogs scored seven straight points and never trailed the rest of the way.  The lead was nine after one quarter and peaked at 14 points (37-23) at the half after DSU used a 14-3 run midway thru the half breaking a tie at 17 early in the second quarter.  Kelly started the run with back-to-back 3's and Baird finished the spurt with back-to-back treys of her own.

After the lead grew to 18 points early in the third quarter, the Eagles chipped away at the margin, pulling within nine (44-35) at the 5:12 mark before eight straight points from the Bulldogs, led by four points from Birmelin, pushed the lead up to 17 points and DeSales cruised the rest of the way.

DSU dominated the glass out-rebounding EU, 48-35, for the game.  DeSales shot 39.7 percent for the game and hit eight three-pointers, seven in the first-half.

The Bulldogs are back in action on Saturday when they travel to Delaware Valley University for another MAC Freedom tilt set to begin at 1:00 pm.