ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- In the late going of a 78-70 home loss, Eastern University Women's Basketball had several chances to complete a comeback, but the visiting Widener Pride made 13-16 free throws down the stretch to hold off the rally.

Widener grabbed the lead for good in the fifth minute on a 3-pointer from Kristina Reiter. The Pride extended that lead to as many as 14 points as they drained three-pointer after three-pointer through the opening 15 minutes of action. Led by Kate Dellinger's 4-7 performance from behind the arc, the Pride made 7-11 to lead 41-28 with 2:30 remaining in the first half.

Eastern closed the deficit to 44-35 at intermission to bring the game within reach. Dellinger scored 17 of her game-high 31 before the break to lead all scorers. Meghan Nowak had 11 to lead the Eagles. Nowak finished the day with 23 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the year.

Kaleigh Boreman hit her third 3-pointer of the day to close the gap to six, and the Eagles had a chance to close the gap further, but Widener answered with a seven point run to reestablish control. 

Widener led 54-39 with 17:12 on the clock, and the Eagles rallied and cut the deficit back to seven on consecutive lay-ups from Shante Jones and Nowak. The Eagles had four straight possessions without the score changing, but a missed lay-up and three turnovers gave the visiting Pride a chance to rebuild its lead back to 14.

The Eagles battled back with scrappy defense to close the gap to seven with four minutes to play, but two more turnovers and a missed lay-up again left the Widener lead intact, and the Eagles were forced to foul to try to chase the game. Dellinger led the Pride with ten made free throws in the final three minutes to seal the game.

The Eagles took away the three point shot in the second half, but Widener still finished 9-15 from distance. Eastern's defense forced Widener into 16 second-half turnovers, but the Pride press forced the Eagles into 13.

Dellinger added 11 rebounds to her career high point total. Joanna Persiano scored 15 and Lil Carney had 10 for the guests.

Shante Jones finished with 22 points, six steals, and five rebounds, and Bekah Roland finished with 11 points.

The loss snaps an 11 game home winning streak for Coach Davis' squad. Eastern went 11-1 at home last year. The Eagles will break for finals and return to action on Dec. 20th at home against PSU-Brandywine. That game concludes the Toys for Tots toy drive of Season of Impact. Anyone bring a new unwrapped toy will receive free admission to the game.