Box Score
JANUARY 28, 2012

KING'S WOMEN HOLD OFF DESALES 45-40 IN KEY FREEDOM CONFERENCE MATCHUP

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College women's basketball team opened a 18-3 lead over visiting DeSales University but the Lady Monarchs were forced to shake off a poor second half, holding on to an important 45-40 Freedom Conference victory Saturday in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 16-3 overall and 8-0 in the Freedom Conference, maintaining a two-game lead over its nearest competition.  DeSales, meanwhile, slipped to 10-9 and 5-3 in league competition.

Both teams came slowly out of the gates and failed to score during the first three minutes of play until King's finally broke through on a lay-up and foul shot by Brittany Muscatell at the 16:50 mark.  A driving layup by Marissa Manning and one-of-two foul shots from Samantha Simcox upped the lead to 6-0 with 14:50 remaining in the opening stanza. After a layup by Paige Carlin and a subsequent steal and layup from Celia Rader, the Lady Monarch lead grew to 10-0 at 14:26. King's then upped the score to 12-0 with 12:01 remaining in the half on a low-post bucket from Ashey Davies.

DeSales scored its first point of the game with 10:47 on the clock on a free throw from Colleen Gavin. King's, however, countered when Lindsay Atchison scored on a driving layup at the 8:57 mark.

The Bulldogs finally managed its first basket of the game at the 7:56 mark when Mikelyn Mackavage scored on a short jumper to cut the score to 14-3. King's, though would answer when Katlin Michaels became the eight different Lady Monarch to score, pushing the lead to 1-3 with 6:37 left in the half. After a DeSales miss, Manning scored again for King's, forging a 18-3 lead at the 5:29 mark.   King's built its biggest lead of the opening stanza with 4:15 to play on an offensive rebound and bucket by Michaels as the Lady Monarch advantage swelled to 22-6 with 4:15 on the clock.

DeSales, however, ended the half with a 9-3 run to close to within 25-15 at the break .

King's did an admirable job defensively in the first half, forcing 14 DeSales turnovers while harassing the Bulldogs into a 20.8 (5-24) percent shooting effort while controlling the boards to the tune of a 27-17 rebounding advantage.

In the second half, however, the tide turned as DeSales slowly chipped into the lead. The Bulldogs began the second stanza with a 10-5 surge to close to within 30-25 after a Cherelle Simmons jumper with 12:50 to play. King's responded with a basket by Michaels to move ahead 32-25, but DeSales responded with a 6-0 spurt to draw to 32-31 on a Colleen Gavin jumper at 10:41.

After the teams traded baskets to move the score to 34-33, King's surged ahead on a three-pointer from Simcox, a teal and lay-up from Michaels and a driving layup by Atchison to push the score to 41-33 with 6:21 left in the contest. After a DeSales miss, Manning scored on the inside to give the Lady Monarchs a 43-3 lead with 5:31 to play.

DeSales made a late run and trimmed the lead to 44-40 on an offensive rebound and basket buy Simmons with 1:03 to play but the Bulldogs would get no closer. King's had an opportunity to widen the lead but with DeSales fouling, the Lady Monarchs missed the front end of two one-and-ones over the final 1:20. DeSales, however ,was unable to capitalize by missing three straight shots over the final minute of play. King's finally sealed the victory when Michaels made one-of-two foul shots with 0:08 remaining.

King's managed to survive despite shooting just 26.6 (17-64) percent from the field and made just 1-of-18 shots from three-point range. The Lady Monarchs also struggled from the foul line, converting just 10-of-19 from the charity stripe. King's also controlled the boards, holding a 51-to-40 rebounding advantage, including 26 offensive rebounds.

DeSales fared only slightly better, making 29.1 (16-55) percent of its shots from the field and converted only 1-of-12 from the three-point line.  DeSales finished with 24 turnovers compared to 21 for King's.

Michaels was the only King's player to score in double-figures, finishing the game with 10 points, nine rebounds, and three assists. Manning tallied nine points with 12 rebounds and two blocks while Carlin added eight points and three steals. Rader contributed five points while Atchison registered four points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Simcox chipped in with four points, seven rebounds, and three steals.

Gavin paced DeSales with 11 points and nine rebounds while Alexiah Grant followed with 11 points and four steals. Simmons chipped in with six points and a game-high 13 boards.

King's faces a major test on Wednesday when the Lady Monarchs travel to St. David to face Freedom Conference Eastern University. The Eagles are 14-4 overall and 6-2 in league play after a 81-65 home win over Manhattanville on Saturday. King's won the first meeting between the teams 70-55 on January 14 in Wilkes-Barre.


KING'S COLLEGE 45, DESALES UNIVERSITY 40

DESALES UNIVERSITY (10-9, 5-3)
Colleen Gavin 5-12 1-1 11; Alexiah Grant 4-14 3-4 11; Cherelle Simmons 3-4 0-0 6; Sondrine Glovas 1-12 3-4 6; Mikelyn Mackavage 2-6 0-0 4; Alex Suk 1-3 0-0 2; Julia Duffy 0-1 0-0 0; Megan Gallagher 0-0 0-0 0; Hannah Smith 0-1 0-0 0; Taylor Greene 0-1 0-0 0; Faith Gilbert 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-55 7-9 40.

KING'S COLLEGE (16-3, 8-0)
Katlin Michaels 4-14 2-7 10; Marissa Manning 3-10 3-4 9; Paige Carlin 3-6 2-2 8; Celia Rader 2-11 1-1 5; Lindsay Atchison 2-7 0-0 4; Samantha Simcox 1-9 1-2 4; Brittany Muscatell 1-4 1-1 3; Ashley Davies 1-2 0-0 2; Alicia Hayes 0-0 0-0 0; Cassie Erdmann 0-0 0-0 0; Abby Malloy 0-0 0-0 0; Molly Dahl 0-0 0-2 0; Jessica McHugh 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-64 10-19 45.

DeSales University............   15   25  -   40
King's College..…..............   25   20  -   45

3-point goals--DeSales University 1-12 (Sondrine Glovas 1-4; Alexiah Grant 0-4; Mikelyn Mackavage 0-4), King's College 1-18 (Samantha Simcox 1-6; Celia Rader 0-4; Lindsay Atchison 0-3; Brittany Muscatell 0-2; Jessica McHugh 0-1; Katlin Michaels 0-2). Fouled out--DeSales University-None, King's College-None. Rebounds--DeSales University 40 (Cherelle Simmons 13), King's College 51 (Marissa Manning 12). Assists--DeSales University 7 (Hannah Smith 4), King's College 8 (Katlin Michaels 3). Total fouls--DeSales University 20, King's College 11. Technical fouls--DeSales University-None, King's College-None. A-385