Center Valley, PA, (March 2, 2005) – Senior Holly Liebl (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown) scored a career-high 26 points to lead the DeSales University women’s basketball team past Grove City College, 71-63, in the opening round of the ECAC South Region Tournament.

 

        The Bulldogs (21-7 overall) advance to the tournament’s final four where they will take on the #3 seed, Lebanon Valley College, in the first semifinal.  Lebanon Valley defeated Medaille College, 71-64, on Wednesday evening.  The other semifinal pits the #1 seed, Moravian College, against the #4 seed, Pitt.-Greensburg.  The semifinal games will be held at Moravian College on Friday, March 4^th.  DeSales will play in the first game beginning at 6:00 pm.

 

        DeSales sprinted out to an early 10-0 lead in tonight’s game and seemed well on its way to an easy win before the Wolverines (16-10 overall) answered with a 23-4 spurt that turned a 10-0 deficit into a 23-14 lead with 8:19 remaining in the opening half.  The Bulldogs chipped away at the nine-point Wolverine lead, cutting it down to two points three times and trailed by that margin, 31-29, entering the locker rooms.

 

        Senior Alyssa Antolick (Bethlehem, PA/Bethlehem Catholic) and GCC’s Abby Moose each led the way with 11 points apiece.  Liebl played just seven minutes with two fouls and totaled seven points for DeSales in the first half.

 

        In the second half, the Wolverines continued to lead throughout the first nine minutes of the half and held a 44-38 advantage at the 11:01 mark before DSU used an 18-2 run to take a commanding 10-point lead, 56-46, with 5:54 remaining.  Liebl scored 10 of the Bulldogs points during the spurt and senior Jen Netwall (Allentown, PA/William Allen) hit DSU’s only trey of the game during the run.

 

        Grove city pulled to within six points twice with the last coming at the 1:22 mark, 65-59, but were never able to get any closer as DeSales posted the final margin and advanced to the ECAC semifinals.

 

        Liebl scored her career-high 26 on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 12-of-13 from the charity stripe.  She also added 11 rebounds to record her 12^th double-double of the season.  Antolick finished with 15 points and sophomore Kirby Lutz (Easton, PA/Pen Argyl) netted 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals in the win.