FEBRUARY 6, 2012
KING'S WOMEN LOOKING TO CLINCH TOP-SEED IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE IF LADY MONARCHS CAN DEFEAT DEL-VAL
WILKES-BARRE — On Saturday, the King's College women's basketball team secured one of its goals by clinching a Freedom Conference playoff berth with a 70-65 road win over FDU-Florham. On Wednesday, the Lady Monarchs can secure another goal of earning the top-seed and home-court advantage throughout the league playoffs if King's can defeat visiting Delaware Valley College at 6:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gymnasium.
The game will be aired live on the radio by WRKC 88.5 FM. The contest will also be voice-streamed over the Internet at:
http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html
Fans can follow the game on LiveStats at the following link:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/kings/wbball/index.htm
King's enters the matchup with a 18-3 overall record while remaining perfect in the Freedom Conference with a 10-0 mark, the best conference start in school history. The Lady Monarchs have won 11 straight games with its last loss coming by a 83-61 mark to 2011 "Final Four" qualifier Illinois Wesleyan. Delaware Valley, meanwhile, is 12-8 overall and 3-5 in Freedom Conference games after an 85-73 home loss to Eastern University. The game will mark the second meeting of the season between the teams with King's capturing the first contest by a slim 59-56 margin December 30 in Doylestown.
With four games remaining in the regular-season, the Lady Monarchs are in prime position to wrap up the top-seed in the upcoming Freedom Conference Tournament. King's has a three-game lead over DeSales, Eastern, and Misericordia, who are all tied for second-place with identical 7-3 conference records, and need just one more victory to earn home-court advantage for the Freedom tourney. The Lady Monarchs have already swept its season series with DeSales and Eastern while having scored a victory in its first meeting with Misericordia.
A year ago, King's finished in a three-way tie for first-place in the Freedom Conference with DeSales and Manhattanville but tiebreakers relegated the Lady Monarchs to the third-seed. King's eventually lost in the Freedom Conference semi-finals at DeSales.
King's enters the contest averaging 64.8 points per-game but its defense is tops in the Freedom Conference, allowing only 56.1 points each contest. The Lady Monarchs had held opponents under 56 points for 10 straight games until FDU netted 65 against the Lady Monarchs on Saturday.
Senior forward
Samantha Simcox leads the Lady Monarchs with averages of 11.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, and a team-high 61 steals per-game. Senior guard-forward
Paige Carlin follows with 11.1 points and 4.0 rebounds each game and is within 34 points of reaching the coveted 1,000-point plateau. Junior guard
Katlin Michaels has ben a solid all-around performer with 9.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and is second on the squad with 50 steals.
Junior guard
Celia Rader tallies 9.2 points and 2.7 rebounds with a team-high 35 three-pointers while freshman center
Marissa Manning has contributed 7.7 points and 4.7 rebounds with 26 blocked shots. Junior forward
Lindsay Atchison has posted 6.2 points and 3.5 boards while senior guard
Brittany Muscatell chips in with 4.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists.
Delaware Valley, meanwhile, have lost four of its last five league games and are looking to claw its way back into the playoff picture. The Aggies, though, realistically need to win its final four games to have a chance.
The Aggies boast a solid offense that ranks third in the Freedom Conference with a 65.7 points per-game average while standing fourth defensively at 62.0 points each contest. Leading the way for Delaware Valley is its outstanding inside-outside combination of 6-foot-1 junior center Emily Soper and senior shooting guard Brittany Battinieri.
Soper ranks fourth in the Freedom Conference with 16.1 points and is also fourth with 8.4 rebounds. She also leads the league with 56 blocked shots. Soper is 28 points shy of reaching the 1,000-point mark. Battinieri, meanwhile, averages 12.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.2 assists while connecting on 42 three-pointers, the second most in league play. Battinieri has connected on 243 career three-pointers, the third highest total in Middle Atlantic Conference history.
Freshman forward Breanna Coll follows with 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds with 22 three-pointers while freshman guard Grace Mirack has contributed 7.8 points and 3.2 rebounds. Senior guard Sarah Delcasale has tallied 5.1 points and 3.2 boards while senior forward Jackie Shunkwiler has posted 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds. Freshman center-forward Shannon Barlow chips in with 4.3 points and 5.7 boards. The Aggies are averaging 65.7 points per-game while yielding 62.0.
Should King's fall short in its bid Wednesday to lock up the Freedom Conference number-one seed, the Lady Monarchs will have another opportunity on Saturday when the Lady Monarchs host Manhattanville College Saturday at 1:00 p.m. on Senior Day in Scandlon Gymnasium.
