Wilkes-Barre, PA, (January 28, 2006) – Freshman LeighAnn Burke (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) tied the school-record with 37 points to lead head coach Fred Richter to his 300^th win and the DeSales University women’s basketball team past Wilkes University, 77-59, in Freedom Conference action on Saturday afternoon in the Marts Center.

 

        Richter becomes just the second coach in DeSales history (Tim Neiman – Baseball) to earn 300+ wins in a career.  He currently has a 300-131 overall record in 15 years as the Bulldogs head coach.  Burke ties Lynn Butler’s school-record of 37 points that had stood by itself since March of 1986.  She finished the game 12-of-16 from the field, 4-for-5 from three-point land and a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe.

 

        The win is the second straight for the Bulldogs who improve to 11-8 overall and 5-3 in the Freedom, while the loss drops Wilkes to 5-13 overall and 1-7 in the Freedom.  DSU shot 50.0 percent (24-of-48) from the field and forced 21 Colonel turnovers in the game.

 

        DSU jumped out early opening up an 8-0 lead that was quickly erased with WU tying the game at 12 at the 13:32 mark.  The game remained tied at 19 with 7:04 to play before an 11-2 run over the next four minutes gave DSU a 30-21 lead.  Sophomore Amanda Kuperavage (Port Carbon, PA/Nativity BVM) started the run with a lay-up, Burke nailed a trey and hit two freebies and freshman Kim Rarick (Ringtown, PA/North Schuylkill) finished the spurt with four straight points.

 

        Still leading by nine, 32-23, the Colonels closed the half on a 7-0 run to trail by two points, 32-30, at the break.  Burke led DSU to the two-point halftime lead with 17 of her 37 points in the opening half.  Rena Bolin had a team-high 16 for the hosts.

 

        The lead grew to seven points, 46-39, five minutes into the second half before a 26-8 run over the next nine minutes gave DSU a 72-47 lead and put the game away.  Burke led the charge with 14 of her 20 second-half points during this stretch.

 

        Along with Burke, Kuperavage tallied double digits with 10 and junior Kirby Lutz (Easton, PA/Pen Argyl) added 11 points.  Kuperavage also had a game-high five assists and Lutz totaled four steals in the win.

 

        Bolin finished with a team-high 24 points and Lacey Andresen totaled 11 points to lead the Colonels in the losing effort.