Center Valley, PA (February 23, 2009) – This is the time of the year to be a college basketball fan as the Freedom Conference playoffs get underway on Wednesday evening with the DeSales University men's basketball team looking to repeat and win a second straight Freedom Conference title, while the women's basketball team is in search of a three-peat and its third straight Freedom Conference crown as both teams enter play on Wednesday needing just two more wins to take home the championship hardware and earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The two teams took much different paths to this point. The men's team earned the #1 seed posting a 20-5 overall record and a 13-1 mark in the Freedom Conference, setting a new team record for most conference wins in the regular season. The women's team started the season 5-8 and just 1-3 in the Freedom Conference, but finished the year 11-1 over its final 12 games and with a perfect 10-0 mark in those 12 games in Freedom Conference action. The men will be the #1 seed in the Freedom post-season and will play at home for as long as they stay alive, while the women finished as the #2 seed and will host at least the semifinal round on Wednesday.
None of that regular season success matters now though as every team still alive has had their record wiped clean and if you win you advance, keeping your NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The women will start things off on Wednesday hosting third seeded, Delaware Valley College (17-8, 9-5 Freedom), beginning at 6:00 pm, with the men following at approximately 8:00 pm against fourth seeded, King's College (12-13, 8-6 Freedom). If you are unable to attend you can follow both games online via LIVE Stats (WOMEN), LIVE Stats (MEN) or LIVE Audio (BOTH Games). Ticket prices for the game are $6.00 (adults), $4.00 (seniors 65+), $2.00 (students – DeSales students with ID are free), children under the age of six are free.
The DeSales women are making their 13th straight appearance in the Freedom Conference playoffs since joining the conference 13 years ago. In their first 12 appearances DSU has a 14-8 overall record, has advanced to eight Freedom Conference championships, and cut a championship net down four times ('97-98, '99-00, '07-08, and '08-09). DeSales' semifinal opponent, Delaware Valley College, is making its 13th conference playoffs appearance and the eighth under head coach Laura Hogan. The Aggies are just 1-12 all-time in the Freedom post-season with that lone win coming in 2002 when they defeated King's College in the semifinal round.
The Bulldog men will be making their ninth trip to the Freedom Conference playoffs. The Bulldogs own a 6-7 record in their previous eight appearances including five trips to the Freedom Conference championship game, four of which have come in the last five years, and one Freedom Conference Championship which came last year starting the Bulldogs run to the NCAA “Elite Eight”. King's is making its ninth Freedom Conference playoffs appearance in the last 10 years and its eighth in nine years under head coach JP Andrejko. The Monarchs have won the Freedom Conference title three times ('04-05, '06-07, and '07-08).
Leading the Bulldog women will be junior Lori Lidlow (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North), who leads the team in scoring at 17.8 points per game. Lidlow also leads the team with 63 steals and had her best-game scoring game of the season, scoring a career-high 34 points, in the home win over Delaware Valley College.
Senior Kelly Magrann (Sinking Spring, PA/Holy Name) is second on the team in scoring averaging 10.8 points per game. Magrann has been on fire and a huge part of the Bulldogs success over the last 12 games averaging 15.8 points per game in that time. Freshman Colleen Gavin (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) and sophomore Cherelle Simmons (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey) combine to average 16.6 points and 14.1 rebounds per game in the middle, while sophomore Hannah Smith (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) continues to excel at the point, averaging 5.1 assists per game and ranked third in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.54-to-1).
Delaware Valley is led by its three-guard trio of senior Kim Vennera, junior Brittany Battinieri, and sophomore Brittney Zimmerman. Vennera leads the team averaging 16.0 points per game, Battinieri is second in scoring at 12.4 PPG, and Zimmerman also averages double digits at 10.7 per game. Freshmen Emily Soper and Jenna Peoples combine to average 18.3 points and 14.8 rebounds in the middle for the Aggies.
The DeSales men are led by its senior All-American Darnell Braswell (Allentown, PA/William Allen). Braswell leads the team in both scoring (20.6 PPG) and rebounding (8.2 RPG) and has recorded eight double-doubles this season. He became the school's all-time leading scorer with 19 points in the win over FDU-Florham on Saturday and also broke the school-record for points in a game in the triple overtime win over King's earlier in the season with 41 tallies.
Junior Brian Hunter (Allentown, PA/Emmaus) also averages double digits at 10.7 points per game and has a team-high 97 assists and just 49 turnovers (1.97-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio). Senior Rob Schubach (Center Valley, PA/Southern Lehigh) and sophomore Bob Zanneo (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) combine to average 14.6 points off the bench and have combined to make 92 three's on the season. As a team, DSU has more assists (403) than turnovers (342) and are out-rebounding the opposition by an average of 7.2 rebounds per game.
King's is led by junior Kevin Conroy, who leads the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game and rebounding at 6.1 per game. Sharp shooting senior Mike Wagner also averages double digits at 10.5 points per game and has made a team-high 63 treys on the season, shooting 44.1 percent from outside the arc. Sophomore Kyle Stackhouse averages 9.0 points per game and does an excellent job at the point guard spot, dishing out 108 assists compared to just 58 turnovers on the year.
