Center Valley, PA (December 19, 2017) - The DeSales University women's basketball team shot a season-low 28.8 percent from the field falling to local rival Muhlenberg College, 55-47, in non-conference action on Tuesday evening in Billera Hall.

The Bulldogs (5-4) were led by junior Bridget Walsh (Dunmore, PA) who tallied a career-high tying 12 points as the lone double digit scorer.  Junior Leandra Sterner (Northampton, PA) finished with nine points, senior Angelica Bertola (East Stroudsburg, PA) had seven points and pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, and junior Morgan Birmelin (Honesdale, PA) finished with a team-high nine assists in the loss.

Muhlenberg (11-0) saw three players reach double digits including Rachel Plotke and Chelsea Gary each with 16 points and Brandi Vallely with a double-double, 12 points and 13 assists.  Gary also recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds and Carley Hamilton finished with a game-high 16 rebounds in the win.

The Bulldogs played a very solid first quarter tied with the Mules at 16 after the first 10 minutes, shooting 38.1 percent from the floor.  DSU missed its final five shots of the first stanza and were ice cold in the second quarter hitting just 1-for-15.  DeSales did not score for just over 11 and a half minutes but saw themselves trailing by just eight at the break thanks to some solid defense.

After MC scored the first bucket of the second-half, DSU rattled off seven straight points to pull within three (29-26) but a 6-0 Mules run pushed the lead up to 11 points mid-way thru the half and DSU trailed by 13 after three quarters of play.

The deficit was still 13 with 2:37 to go when the Bulldogs got a lay-up from freshman Kristina Polak (Bethlehem, PA) and after consecutive Muhlenberg turnovers, scored six straight points to pull within seven at the 1:37 mark.  After two missed freebies from the Mules, Sterner had a good look on a three to cut it to four but the attempt was off the mark and Muhlenberg iced the win from the line hitting 4-for-6 over the final 31 seconds.

DSU did another good job of forcing turnovers as Muhlenberg committed 22 miscues but the Bulldogs were only able to score 11 points off those opportunities as compared to Muhlenberg scoring 12 points off just 15 DeSales turnovers.  DSU also struggled from the line hitting just 1-for-6.  Neither team was accurate from deep combining for a 5-for-34 shooting outside the arc.

The Bulldogs are now off for Christmas and will return to action just after the holiday traveling to Montclair State University for the Gelton/Paskert Holiday Tournament on December 29th with tip set for 4:30 pm.