FEBRUARY 19, 2018
 
KING'S BASKETBALL TRAVELING TO DESALES WEDNESDAY FOR MAC FREEDOM SEMI-FINALS

MEDIA GAME NOTES
 
WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College women's basketball team will make its return to the MAC Freedom Conference Tournament for the first time since 2012-13 when the Lady Monarchs travel to Center Valley to face DeSales University in a semi-final matchup at 7:00 PM in Billera Hall.

King's athletics is sponsoring a student fan bus. Students must go to the athletic office Tuesday by 4:30 PM to sign up.

Ticket prices are set at $6 for adults, $4 for seniors, $2 for students, while children under age-six are free.

Fans unable to attend can follow the games online at the following links: 

Women Live Stats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/desales/wbball/
Men Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/desales/mbball/
Videos (Both Games):   http://athletics.desales.edu/watch/?Live=283&type=Live
WRKC Radio, 88.5 FM:  http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html

King's enters the tournament as the third-seed after finishing the regular-season with a 15-10 overall record and a 10-4 Freedom Conference mark.  DeSales, meanwhile is also 15-10 and 10-4 but was awarded the second-seeded on a conference tiebreaker.  The teams split their regular-season series in a pair of closely contested matchups. King's won the first meeting 55-50 at home on January 24, while DeSales captured the rematch 61-56 February 10 in Center Valley.

The Lady Monarchs come off a 75-62 loss to top-seeded defending champion FDU-Florham in the regular-season finale on Saturday. DeSales enters the game fresh off a 75-45 road victory over Delaware Valley on Saturday. In the other semi-final pairing, FDU-Florham (19-6/12-2) will face fourth-seeded Misericordia 16-9/9-5) Wednesday at 7:00 PM in Madison, NJ.  The semi-finals winners will play Saturday at the site of the highest remaining seed.
 
Sophomore forward Rebecca Prociak tops King's with 14.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per-game. Sophomore guard Mackenzie Yori follows with 12.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and a team-high 59 three-pointers, the most long-range shots by a King's player since Celia Rader made 60 in 2010-11. Junior forward Alexis Steeber adds 12.1 points and 5.5 rebounds while senior center Olivia Hoffman contributes 8.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and a team-high 90 blocked shots. Junior guard Lindsey Dippre chips in with 5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 25 three-pointers. King's averages 61.8 points while yielding 59.2 each contest.
 
DeSales is led by junior guard Leandra Sterner who averages 16.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists with 47 three-pointers. Junior guard Morgan Birmelin follows with 10.6 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.1 steals while senior guard Kaitlin Kelly adds 9.4 points and 3.1 boards with 54 three-pointers. Sophomore forward Molly Jansco chips in with 6.5 points and 5.2 rebounds. The Bulldogs average 67.1 points while allowing 57.6 each contest.

King's head coach Caitlin Hadzimichalis is in her second year at the helm and led the Lady Monarchs to a 9.5 game improvement from last season when the Lady Monarchs were 5-19. Currently, it marks the biggest one-season turnaround in program history, surpassing the previous mark of nine games set by Bryan Whitten who took King's from a 3-21 mark his first year in 1993-94 to a 12-13 mark and an MAC Tournament appearance in his second season in 1994-95.

This will be the 10^th all-time Freedom Conference Tournament meeting between the teams will King's owning a 5-4 advantage. It will also be the 11^th all-time post-season matchup between the programs with King's holding a 6-4 lead including one NCAA tournament game in 1999-2000. King's is 0-3 in Freedom Conference Tournament games at Billera Hall. The last time the teams played a playoff game in Center Valley, DeSales won by a 66-52 count in the 2010-11 semi-finals. The Lady Monarchs' last post-season win over DeSales was a 80-70 home decision in 2012-13, standing as the last post-season win for King's.
 
 
King's vs' DeSales MAC Freedom Tournament and Post-Season Results

(King's leads 5-4 in MAC Freedom Games and 6-4 in all post-season meetings)
1999-2000:  45-49 L (Away)
1999-2000:  62-54 W - NCAA (Away)*
2000-2001:  72-65 W OT2 (Home)
2002-2003:  66-56 W (Home)
2003-2004:  58-41 W (Home)
2004-2005:  41-47 L (Home)
2006-2007:  83-78 W (Home)
2008-2009:  71-45 L (Away)
2010-2011:  52-66 L (Away)
2012-2013:  80-70 W (Home)
*NCAA Tournament Game