COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus Women's Basketball team suffered a 64-47 defeat to Salisbury in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at Helfferich Hall.
With the loss, the Bears fall to 2-9 overall on the season as they wrap up non-conference action. Meanwhile, the Sea Gulls improve to 12-2 overall on the season.
A pair of Bears led the way with 16 points apiece against the Sea Gulls. Sophomore Sarah DiLello set a new career-high with her 16 points and added three rebounds. Freshman Chinwe Irondi fell just short of a double-double after adding nine rebounds while also grabbing a team-high four steals. Sophomore Maria D'Aulerio added eight points off the bench after shooting 3-of-5 from the field.
Salisbury netted the first points of the game on a three-pointer after a scoreless 2:57 to open the contest from both teams. The Sea Gulls extended their lead out to 7-2 at the 6:07-mark before Ursinus responded with five-straight points to tie the game at seven with 4:35 remaining in the first quarter. Salisbury countered with a 10-2 run to take a 17-9 advantage at the 1:17-mark. Freshman Charlotte DiLello made a layup with 26 seconds left in the quarter to bring the score to 17-11 entering the second. The Bears pulled within four points of Salisbury on four separate occasions in the second quarter but were unable to draw any closer. The Sea Gulls closed the second quarter with five-straight points in the final 2:18 to take a 30-21 lead into halftime. Salisbury forced four Bear turnovers during that stretch and scored four points off the turnovers.
Irondi opened the second half with the Bears first four points and trimmed the Sea Gull lead down to 32-25 at the 7:45-mark. However, the Sea Gulls took control of the game with a 12-2 run to go up 44-27 at the 2:31-mark, capped by a three-point play. Leading 46-31 into the fourth quarter, Salisbury continued to pull away behind forcing multiple Ursinus turnovers. The Sea Gulls used a 11-6 run to take a 20-point lead at 57-37 with 4:28 left in regulation. Sarah DiLello scored five-straight points for the Bears to make it a 57-42 game with 2:37 left in regulation before the teams traded baskets to close out the contest.
Ursinus shot 37 percent (20-of-54) from the field and just 2-of-17 (11.8%) from beyond the arc. The Bears went 5-of-7 (71.4%) from the free throw line and held a slight 31-29 rebounding advantage. Meanwhile, the Sea Gulls shot 49 percent (25-of-51) from the field and 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from three-point range. Salisbury went a solid 10-of-12 (83.3%) from the charity stripe and scored 31 points off 25 Ursinus turnovers.
Kaylee Otlowski paced four Sea Gulls in double-figures with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and grabbed four rebounds. Hailey Adler added 11 points behind a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line while Lauren Fortescue posted a line of 10 points, six assists, six steals, along with three rebounds.
The Bears will return to Centennial Conference action on Tuesday, January 11th as they will host Dickinson at 8 p.m.