Center Valley, PA, (December 7, 2003) – The DeSales University women’s basketball saw six different players reach double figures as the Bulldogs handed local rival Muhlenberg College its first loss of the season, 98-83, in non-conference action on Tuesday evening.

 

        The Bulldogs (5-1 overall) outscored Muhlenberg (5-1 overall) 58-42 in the second half to record the win.  DSU scorched the nets by shooting 54.1 percent from the floor in the second half and committed just 13 second-half turnovers.  The Mules had taken a one-point halftime lead on a buzzer beating half court shot from Gwen Doyle to make it 41-40.

 

        DeSales had raced out to a 10-0 lead over the first five minutes of the game as the Mules missed its first 12 shots, nine of them three-point tosses.  The Mules chipped away at the lead and took its first advantage on the buzzer shot just before halftime.

 

        MC charged out of the locker rooms in the second half as its three-point attempts started to find the bottom of the net.  The Mules took a 56-51 lead with 15:04 left before DeSales’ head coach Fred Richter called timeout and the Bulldogs answered with an 11-3 run out of the time out to take a 62-59 lead.

 

        Muhlenberg tied the score at 62 and DSU took control after that with a 17-6 spurt to take an 11-point advantage, 79-68, with 6:38 remaining.  Six different Bulldogs scored during the game clinching run.  The lead ballooned to as many as 17 points, 98-81, before DeSales ran out the final 20 seconds on the clock on the offensive end.

 

        As mentioned six different DSU players reached double figures including senior Jen Netwall (Allentown, PA/William Allen) who tallied a game and season-high 21 points.  Netwall also added a career-high nine assists.  Sophomore Kirby Lutz (Easton, PA/Pen Argyl) recorded a career-high 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting and tied her career-high with 12 rebounds.

 

        Seniors Alyssa Antolick (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) and Holly Liebl (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown) each added 14 points with Liebl grabbing a game-high 16 boards and Antolick filling up the stat sheet with eight rebounds, six assists, six steals and one block.  Senior Maria Viercinski (West Wyoming, PA/Bishop Hoban) also set a new career-high with 10 points and sophomore Jenn Osborne (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) totaled 12 points, seven rebounds and six blocks.

 

        The Mules had four players in double figurers including Stephanie Coluccini and Gwen Doyle with 14 points, Sam Tager with 11 points and Lacie Smith with 10 points.