FEBRUARY 25, 2009
KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO DESALES IN FREEDOM SEMI-FINALS
CENTER VALLEY – Top-seeded and 23rd ranked DeSales University put on a first-half three-point shooting clinic along with a tenacious defense as the Bulldogs posted a 71-45 victory over visiting King's College in a Freedom Conference Tournament women's basketball semi-final Wednesday in Center Valley.
With the loss, fifth-seeded King's ended its season with a 11-16 record while DeSales improved to 22-4 and will host the Freedom Conference title game on Saturday against second-seeded Manhattanville, a 70-65 winner over and third-seeded Alvernia in the other semi-final pairing.
King's would take a 2-0 lead on a bucket down low from Juliana Lynott, but DeSales answered with its first three-pointer of the half from Megan Bedard to take a 3-2 lead. The Lady Monarchs responded with a short jumper from Kaitlyn Fiorino, but the Bulldogs again responded with a three-pointer by Kaila Wiand to build a 6-4 lead. After the teams traded inside baskets, the Bulldogs responded by draining four straight three-pointers, one form LeighAnn Burke, another by Wiand, and two straight from Kelly Magrann to build a 20-8 lead with 12:11 remaining in the first half.
After King's Abby Malloy and Bedard traded three-pointers, Kaitlyn Malshefski would nail a three-pointer to cut the lead to 25-16 with 5:40 on the clock. From there, DeSales used four points from Shaina Dymond, and two more treys from Burke to up the Bulldog lead to 35-16 with 3:00 remaining.
King's had an opportunity to trim the lead from the foul line but missed the front end of two one-and-ones, going 0-5 from the charity stripe during the final 2:31 of the half. DeSales, meanwhile, used lay-ups from Bedard and Cherelle Simmons to take a 39-20 lead into the half-time break.
In all, DeSales shot 42.4 (14-33) percent from the floor, but a whopping 52.9 (9-17) from three-point range. The Bulldogs made six of their first nine three-pointers but also used a tenacious defense to force King's into 13 first-half turnovers. Burke led DeSales with 11 first-half points while Bedard added 10. Carlin led King's with five first-half points while Lynott added four
The second half fared no better for King's as a 13-6 spurt, capped by a jumper from Mcgrann and two foul shots by Bedard, gave the Bulldogs a 52-26 lead with 12:46 to play. After a King's bucket, by Burke and an inside basket by Caitlin Miller pushed the lead to 56-28, Kayla Dick connected on a three-pointer for King's to cut the lead to 56-31 with 9:31 on the clock.
The Lady Monarchs would draw no closer that 69-45 with 0:56 to go after three-pointers by Fiorino and Jessica Paettie.
Burke ended the game with a team-high 16 points while Bedard added 15. Magrann and Diamond finished with 11 and 10 points respectively. The Bulldogs finished the game by making 52.4 (11-of-21) percent from three-point range and 48.1 (25-52) from the floor.
Fiorino paced King's with 12 points and was the only Lady Monarch player to reach double-figures. Carlin finished with seven points while Lynott, Brittany Muscatell, and Krystina Durako netted four points each. Lynott also added a team-high nine rebounds. King's made just 29.8 (17-57) percent of its shots from the floor and 27.8 (5-of-18) percent from long range while totaling 21 turnovers.
The game also put an end to an outstanding career for Fiorino who suffered through a frustrating final game. The Lady Monarch standout scored 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting and was1-for-5 from three-point range. Fiorino concludes her King's career as the third all-time leading scorer in program history with 1,542 points and a school-record 258 three-pointers. She also closed out her career by making at least one three-pointer in 28 consecutive games.
DESALES 71, KING'S 45
KING'S (11-16 overall)
DESALES (22-4 overall)
LeighAnn Burke 6-11 1-1 16; Megan Bedard 5-9 3-4 15; Kelly Magrann 4-7 0-0 11; Shaina Dymond 3-5 4-8 10; Kaila Wiand 2-4 0-0 6; Caitlin Miller 2-6 1-4 5; Cherelle Simmons 2-5 0-0 4; Megan Montchyk 1-2 0-0 3; Elyse Kutsop 0-0 1-3 1; Erica Sovak 0-1 0-0 0; Emily Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0; Hannah Smith 0-2 0-0 0; Lauren Sabatano 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-52 10-20 71
King's........................... 20 25 - 45
DeSales....................... 39 32 - 71
