Madison, NJ (January 15) FDU-Florham Women's Basketball returned home to go up against Delaware Valley and held on to earn their first conference win of the season, 77-72.
FDU-Florham (4-10, 1-2 MAC Freedom) was led by Shannon Tighe (Wayne, NJ), who scored 20 points. Tighe also managed to secure 6 assists.
 
Delaware Valley's (2-10, 0-3 MAC Freedom) best player on the court was Hayley Keenan, who scored 29 points.

The first quarter started as a back-and-forward affair for both teams. With just over five minutes left, the Aggies held an 11-10 lead. That's when the Devils went on an 8-0 scoring run, with the first six points coming from Bianca Sode (Kenilworth, NJ). Gabrielle Walker (Old Bridge, NJ) closed the scoring run with a jumper to give the Devils an 18-11 lead. Three-pointers from Tighe and Christina Centeno (Bayonne, NJ) ended the quarter for the Devils, and FDU expanded their lead to nine, leading with a score of 24-15.

FDU started the second quarter off hot, as they went on another eight-point scoring run. A three-pointer from Tighe, a made free throw from Sode, and back-to-back layups from Kolby Lynch (Morristown, NJ) and Centeno brought the Devils lead up to 17. The Aggies then scored six straight points, but FDU responded, first from a jump shot by Sode, and then from a layup and free throw shot from Julia Vazquez (Bound Brook, NJ) to put the advantage back to 16. The Aggies managed to close that lead down to 13 as halftime hit, with FDU being ahead by a score of 37-24.

The third quarter started with six straight points from Delaware Valley before FDU went on their third 8-0 scoring run, with six coming from Sode and two coming from Lynch. Kristen Mellon (Southampton, NJ) scored her first points of the game on a jumper, then Tighe hit one of her own to push the lead back to 14. Both teams traded points for the rest of the quarter, with it being closed out by made shots from Vazquez and Walker, and FDU went into the last ten minutes with a decent lead, with the score being 54-40.

The first few minutes of the fourth quarter saw a scoring barrage from both sides, with 13 combined points from both sides in the first two minutes alone. Two free throws from Tighe pushed the lead up to 15, and after a three-pointer from the Aggies, Centeno hit a layup to put the lead up to 14 again. A free throw from Lynch put it up to 15 again with just over six minutes left in the game. However, the Aggies went on a massive charge, scoring the next eight points to put the lead down to seven. Walker pushed it back up to nine on a layup, but Delaware Valley fought back, erasing the Devils lead to only a single possession. Lynch hit a layup to put it back to four, but two free throws and a three-pointer meant that Delaware Valley took the lead for the first time since the score was 11-10, with the Aggies having a 72-71 lead with 42 seconds left. However, the Devils reclaimed the lead on a clutch Centeno three-pointer, and after a steal from Tighe, she took it coast to coast for the layup to secure the Devils victory. One more free throw from Vazquez was added to the tally, and as the clock hit zero, FDU held on to the win against Delaware Valley, winning by a score of 77-72.

FDU shot 47.1% (32-68) from the floor, 36.4% (4-11) from three-point range, and 64.3% (9-14) from the free throw line, while Delaware Valley shot 40.9% (27-66) from the floor, 40.0% (6-15) from three-point range and 85.7% (12-14) from the free throw line.

FDU won every statistical category, though most of them were very close. The Devils had more points off turnovers (27-26), second chance points (15-11), bench points (10-3), points in the paint (32-28), and fast break points (8-7).

The Devils will travel to Dallas, Pennsylvania to continue their in-conference matchups against Misericordia on January 18^th. Tipoff is at 1:00 PM.
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