MEDFORD, MASS. – DeSales University scored 18 straight points over the final 5:01 of the first half to take a 20-point lead and the Bulldogs defeated the Red Dragons, 78-52, in an NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament first-round game at Tufts University. 
 
Cortland, making its second straight NCAA appearance and 12th overall, closes the season with a 21-6 record. DeSales (22-3) won its 21st consecutive game and will face the host Jumbos in the second round Saturday. 
 
Nyia Longford (Medford/Longwood) led Cortland with 17 points and seven rebounds. She was 7-for-12 from the field. Corinne Miedreich (Pearl River) made three 3-pointers and ended with 15 points and Logan Streety (Elma/Iroquois) tallied six points on 3-of-5 shooting. 
 
Mikaela Reese led DeSales with 26 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots. Averi Jordan totaled 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and Megan Bealer added 14 points and five rebounds. 
 
Cortland led only once at 4-3 just over three minutes into the game, but the Red Dragons trailed by only two, 16-14, after the first quarter as neither team scored in the final three and a half minutes of the period. Cortland was still only down by two, 21-19, when Longford converted a 3-point play with 7:17 left in the second quarter. 
 
DeSales, however, started its decisive run on a Reese layup with 5:01 left. She scored eight of the Bulldogs' 18 points during the run, while Amelia Saunders tallied five points. Bealer's 3-pointer with four seconds left before halftime gave DeSales a 39-19 lead, and Cortland got no closer than 17 points in the second half. 
 
DeSales finished the game shooting 47 percent from the floor and 77 percent (10-of-13) from the foul line. Cortland shot only 20 percent in the first half, but shot 40 percent in the second to finish at 30 percent. The Red Dragons were 7-for-27 (26 percent) from the 3-point arc.