JANUARY 10, 2012
LADY MONARCH BASKETBALL STARTING BIG WEEK AT DESALES
WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College women's basketball team will face a stiff week of competition as the Lady Monarchs return to Freedom Conference play against two of the top contenders in the league. On Wednesday, King's will begin its big week with a 6:00 p.m. contest in Center Valley against four-time defending Freedom Conference champion DeSales University.
Fans unable to attend can follow the game on Live Video at the following link:
http://www.desalesathletics.tv
LiveStats will also be available at:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/desales/wbball/index.htm
King's enters the matchup with a 9-3 overall record and a 2-0 Freedom Conference mark following a 83-54 victory over defending Colonial States Athletic Conference champion Neumann University. DeSales is 6-5 overall and 2-0 on league play but the Bulldogs have played a rugged schedule with three losses to 2011 NCAA tournament qualifiers while also owning a victory over a Kean University squad which was nationally ranked until recently.
Last season, King's DeSales, and Manhattanville were locked in a three-way tie for first-place in the final Freedom Conference standings. Conference tiebreakers gave DeSales the second seed and King's the third seed. The teams had split their two regular-season games and would meet in the Freedom Conference semi-finals. DeSales would advance to the finals with a 66-52 victory en route to a fourth straight Freedom Conference crown.
The Lady Monarchs have attained a high level of success to date with a balanced scoring effort as seven different players have led the team in scoring this season. Senior forward
Paige Carlin tops King's with 12.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per-game. Senior forward
Samantha Simcox follows with 11.4 points and 8.8 boards with 16 three-pointers while junior guard
Celia Rader adds 9.6 points and a team-high 22 treys.
Junior guard
Katlin Michaels has been solid all-around, contributing 9.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. Freshman center
Marissa Manning has posted 7.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and owns a team-high 17 blocks while junior forward
Lindsay Atchison checks in with 7.2 points and 3.3 rebounds. Senior guard
Brittany Muscatell chips in with 3.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists each contest. King's averages 67.8 points per-game while yielding 59.4 each contest. Defensively, the Lady Monarchs are forcing teams into an average of 21.3 turnovers each contest.
The Bulldogs are led by sophomore guard Sondrine Glovas, the reigning Freedom Conference "Rookie of the Year". Glovas tops the squad with 17.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per-game while making 18 three-pointers. Junior forward Colleen Gavin follows with 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds. Senior center Cherelle Simmons adds 8.9 points and 8.2 rebounds while sophomore guard Faith Gilbert contributes 8.2 points and 3.2 boards. Freshman forward Alex Suk comes off the bench to chip in with 6.2 points and 5.8 rebounds.
The Bulldogs will also benefit from the return senior point-guard Hannah Smith, a 2011 starter who suffered a knee injury on November 19 and returns to the DeSales line-up. DeSales is averaging 65.1 points per-game while allowing just 61.5 per-contest.
Following the game with DeSales, King's will face another major test on Saturday when the Lady Monarchs host Eastern University (9-2/2-0 Freedom) at 1:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gymnasium.
