WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University women's basketball team fell 72-42 to No. 9 DeSales University in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) play Wednesday night at the Marts Center.

Wilkes stands at 4-7 in the conference and 5-15 overall following the home loss. DeSales, ranked ninth nationally by d3hoops.com and No. 8 by the WBCA, improved to 11-1 in the league and 19-1 overall.

The Bulldogs pushed the pace early on leading 5-0 before Kendra Smith (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) hit two free throws for the Colonels. DeSales led 11-2 when Julia Marino (Washington Township, NJ/Washington Township) made the first field goal for Wilkes. Brianna Horton (Verona, NJ/Verona) made the Colonels first three-pointer to make the score 17-7 with 4:06 left in the first quarter. DeSales finished the quarter on a 10-2 run to lead 27-9.

Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee) hit a three 1:44 into the second quarter to make it 31-13. The two teams combined for nine points the rest of the quarter until Nadia Evanosky (Dallas, PA/Dallas) drilled a three at the horn to make the score 38-18 at halftime.

Babcock's three started the scoring for Wilkes in the third quarter but by the midpoint DeSales extended its lead to 29. The Bulldogs led 57-23 at the end of the third.

The Colonels outscored the Bulldogs 9-4 in the first three minutes of the fourth as Jordyn Jennings (York, PA/Northeastern) made two layups, Matos one of her own and Evanosky a three. The rest of the way in the final seven minutes DeSales outscored Wilkes 11-10 to reach the 72-42 final score.

Evanosky led the Colonels with 10 points, the third double-digit scoring effort of her first year. Jennings added a season-high eight points.

Mikaela Reese led DeSales with 20 points while adding 11 rebounds. Megan Bealer had 14 points. Abigail Rafferty registered 12 rebounds.

Wilkes returns to action Saturday facing FDU-Florham on the road at 1:00 p.m. The Colonels defeated the Devils 84-20 at the Marts Center on December 10th.