Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, DE -- The University of Delaware cut a double digit deficit to four with five minutes left to play, but red-hot Quinnipiac pulled away from there and handed the Blue Hens their eighth straight loss with a 59-49 non-league women’s basketball victory Tuesday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

The Blue Hens (1-8) held a 36-32 rebounding advantage and converted 18 of 20 shots from the foul line but couldn’t overcome 25 turnovers and a tough shooting night that saw them hit just 14 of 50 shots from the field.

Delaware, coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance a year ago and owners of seven 20-win seasons in the last eight campaigns, is off to the program’s worst start, surpassing the mark of 2-7 by the 1981-82 squad.

Quinnipiac (7-1), which won its sixth straight game, got 18 points, including four three-pointers, and five rebounds from guard Mandy Pennewell while Brianna Rooney added 10 points and Courtney Kaminski added nine. The Bobcats overcame 23 turnovers by connecting on 9 of 22 three-pointers.

Kyle DeHaven led the Blue Hens with 11 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals while sophomore forward Ariene Jenkins (at right) collected a career-high nine points and five rebounds and Courtney Irving, Vanessa Kabongo, and Gracie Palucis contributed six points each.

“The bottom line is we have to make plays,” said Delaware head coach Tina Martin. “When the game is on the line, we are doing silly things. It’s not fundamentally sound basketball. When you are on a losing streak like we are on, everybody tries to do too much and that’s what we saw tonight.”

Delaware had a streak of 10 straight victories over Northeast Conference opponents snapped. The game marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

Pennewell scored 10 first half points to lead Quinnipiac, which led by as many as eight points in the first half before the Hens’ Palucis hit a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to give the Bobcats a slim 32-27 lead at intermission.

The Blue Hens battled back early in the second half, outscoring Quinnipiac 9-3 over the first 3:26 of the second stanza to take a 36-35 lead on a three-point play by Irving with 16:34 remaining. But the Bobcats answered with a 12-0 run to take back control at 47-36 with 11:58 left as Pennewell started the run with a jumper and ended the streak with back to back three-pointers.

But Delaware came back with a run of its own, outscoring Quinnipiac 10-3 over the next seven minutes with two free throws by Farrah Ferguson with 5:14 remaining cutting the deficit to 50-46. The Hens would get no closer as Kaminski scored five of the game’s next seven points to give the Bobcats some breathing room.

Boxscore