Buffalo, NY-D'Youville guard Shannon Dougherty (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) poured in a game-high 24 points and Alexis Smith (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg)added 13 points to lead D'Youville to a 71-56 home court win over Franciscan University.

With the win, D'Youville improves to 8-5 in the AMCC and jumps to fourth place in the conference standings. The Spartans are 10-10 overall and at the .500 mark in February for the first time since 2009.

The game started close with the visitors taking an early lead and maintaining it through the first twelve minutes. Back-to-back three balls by Dougherty at the thirteen minute mark of the first frame gave the Spartans the lead for the first time and they would not relinquish it for the remainder of the game.

The lead extended to 11 at halftime and only once the rest of the way did Franciscan get to within two possessions of the lead.

The Spartans held a decisive 45-36 edge on the boards. Smith, Jillian Piniewski (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West), and Jean-Ann Korona (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) each collected eight rebounds.

Bridget Andrews (Amherst, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) dished a season-high nine assists to go with her nine points.

The D'Youville bench outscored the visitors by a 19-2 margin led by Danette Laguerre (Buffalo, NY/East) with nine points.

Dougherty's season-high effort was a result of six of 11 from the field (3 of 5 from behind the arc) and nine of 10 from the free-throw line.

Freshman center Alyssa Donnelly (Alden, NY/Nardin Academy) made her first career start today and scored two points and grabbed three rebounds.

"We did a great job of keeping, then extending, the lead." said Spartans' Head coach Dan Glover. "Defensively, it was one of our better efforts this year."

Next on the schedule for D'Youville is an AMCC road game at Pitt-Bradford February 5 at 8:00 p.m.