The 1997-98 women’s basketball team becomes the sixth team to be recognized by the DeSales University Hall of Fame Committee as the first team to win a MAC Championship in the school’s first-year in its new conference.
The Bulldogs defeated Messiah College, 63-60, in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament and advanced to the championship game with a dominating 68-32 win over local rival Moravian College in the semifinals. DSU completed its three-game run with a 66-59 win over Elizabethtown College in the championship game to win its first MAC Championship.
DSU advanced to the NCAA Tournament where it hosted Muhlenberg College falling 53-45 in a low scoring game. DeSales finished the year with a 20-8 record, the third straight 20+ win season under head coach Fred Richter.
Members of the team were: Kate Baxter, Janet Both, Kelly Cleighton, Kate Corcoran, Caryn Flory, Janelle Ganci, Kim Guman, Rachel Hartung, Jeanne Herbert, Maggie Karpovich, Heidi Kaucher, Clare Laracy, Collette Mancuso, Nicole McQuilken, and Cathy Samoylo.
The team was extremely young as the roster featured just one senior (Baxter) and three juniors (Cleighton, Ganci, Karpovich) to go along with 12 freshmen and sophomores.
Baxter was the lone player named to the MAC All-Conference Team earning First-Team honors as she led the team in scoring averaging 13.6 points per game and a team-high 9.1 rebounds per game. Baxter was also named to the ECAC South Region Second-Team that year.
Guman and Corcoran both averaged just under 10 points per game as Guman was second on the team averaging 9.9 points per game and Corcoran poured in 9.7 per game.
Cleighton led the team with 33 made three-pointers and averaged 7.8 points per game, Hartung averaged 6.6 points and 5.4 rebounds, while ranking second on the team behind Herbert in blocks per game, and Ganci led the team with 83 assists on the year sharing the point guard duties with Mancuso.
Coach Richter had this to say about the 1997-98 team, “The 97-98 team was very talented and a pleasure to coach. They were coming off back-to-back PAC Championships and were excited to join the MAC. They accepted the challenge of proving themselves to the MAC very seriously. We were picked in the preseason to be out of the top four to make it to the MAC Playoffs. The rest is now in our history of Championships.”
