Center Valley, PA (November 22, 2005) – A tale of two halves.  The DeSales University women’s basketball played a near perfect first half, but Moravian College answered with an even better second half defeating the Bulldogs, 83-77, in non-conference action on Tuesday evening in Billera Hall.

 

        DSU (1-2 overall) was near flawless in the opening half, holding the Greyhounds (3-0 overall) to just 34.4 percent shooting and forcing 12 turnovers on its way to a 14-point (49-35) halftime lead.  The second half was the complete opposite as Moravian forced 15 Bulldog miscues and held DSU to 31.6 percent shooting, outscoring DeSales 48-28 in the second stanza to secure the six point victory.

 

        A 9-0 run early in the first half and a 17-7 run to end the half led DeSales into the locker room with its 14-point lead.  Freshman LeighAnn Burke (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) was the catalyst in the second run, scoring eight points and handing out one assist during the spurt.  She finished the half with 18 of her 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

 

        The second half started with the Greyhounds chipping away at the lead.  The advantage hovered between seven and nine points for most the first 10 minutes and with DSU leading by six, 64-58, with 7:10 left to play, Moravian made its final charge.

 

        A 9-0 spurt over the next 2:06 turned a six-point deficit into a three-point lead, 67-64.  Sara Steinman started the run with a three-pointer, Kelly Applegate converted a lay-up and Jenny Hackleman totaled four points during the run.

 

        Freshman Erica Sovak (Tuxedo, NY/George F. Baker) erased the deficit at the 3:59 mark hitting a trey from the corner while being fouled on the play but missed the freebie and the score stood at 71 all.  A lay-up by Applegate on the other end made it 73-71 and a trey following a timeout from Stephanie Seaman pushed the margin to five points and DSU never recovered.

 

        The Bulldogs had no answer for Applegate inside as she tallied a career-high 31 points and 12 rebounds on 10-of-12 shooting from the field and 11-of-13 from the charity stripe.  Hackleman added 14 points and Katie Rizman finished with 11 for the Hounds.

 

        DeSales was led by Burke, who had a team-high 20 points, but only two in the second half.  Sovak finished with a season-high 16 points off the bench, junior Kirby Lutz (Easton, PA/Pen Argyl) recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore Amanda Kuperavage (Port Carbon, PA/Nativity BVM) chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds.

 

        DeSales finished the game shooting 48.1 percent but attempted just 16 second-half shots in part to 15 turnovers.  Moravian canned 81.8 percent of its free throw attempts as compared to DeSales’ 62.1 percent from the charity stripe.