Center Valley, PA, (February 4, 2006) – The DeSales University women’s basketball held a six-point lead with five minutes left to play but a late rally by King’s College led to a 78-73 win in Freedom Conference action at Billera Hall on Saturday afternoon.

 

        The loss drops the Bulldogs to 12-9 overall and 6-4 in the Freedom Conference, while the win improves King’s to 10-11 overall and 5-5 in the Freedom Conference.  The win also gives KC the season sweep over DeSales should the two finish tied in the standings at the end of the season; the Lady Monarchs would own the tiebreaker.

 

        The first-half was a back and forth affair that saw King’s take an eight-point lead late in the half on the strength of a 9-2 run.  Senior Beth Jordan hit two jumpers during the run and sophomore Jenna Palumbo nailed a triple to lead the spurt.  DSU answered that run with a 9-2 spurt of its own to end the half and make it a one-point game entering the locker rooms.  Freshmen Kim Rarick (Ringtown, PA/North Schuylkill) and LeighAnn Burke (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) each had treys in the Bulldogs spurt.

 

        The second half was a carbon copy of the first half at the start with the two teams trading baskets thru the first nine minutes as King’s held the lead the entire time but never led by more than four points.

 

        Leading 48-44 with 11:42 to go, the Bulldogs started to take control of the contest.  A three by Burke started a 9-0 run that gave DSU a 53-48 lead with 9:06 to play.  Again the two teams answered each other on the offensive end before DeSales settled for a six-point lead with 5:14 remaining on a jumper by Burke.

 

        Sophomore Andrea Hochstuhl than took over scoring the next six points to pull KC even with the Bulldogs at 65.  A lay-up by sophomore Jenna Stampf (Nazareth, PA/Notre Dame) put DSU back up two points, 67-65, but sophomore Lauren Kendra hit a driving lay-up plus one foul shot to give KC a 68-67 lead on the other end.

 

        A DSU turnover on the next possession was answered with a Palumbo triple to make it 71-67 and Palumbo pushed the advantage to six with a lay-up following two DSU misses.  Burke nailed a triple with 1:16 remaining to pull the Bulldogs within three but freshman Katelyn Fiorino was left wide open on the next possession and pushed the lead right back up to six points and the Lady Monarchs held on from there to record the road win.

 

        King’s crushed DeSales on the boards for the second straight game this season, out-rebounding DSU, 42-27, and scoring 20 second-chance points.  The Lady Monarchs shot 48.3 percent from the field and canned seven three-pointers.  DeSales kept itself in the game by shooting 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from outside the arc and by committing just 11 turnovers.

 

        Burke led the Bulldogs with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting overall and 6-of-9 shooting from three-point land.  Junior Kirby Lutz (Easton, PA/Pen Argyl) totaled 13 points and seven rebounds and Stampf led the charge off the bench with a career-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.  Rarick had another excellent floor game with nine points and nine assists.

 

        The combination of Hochstuhl and Jordan inside combined for 34 points and 24 rebounds.  Hochstuhl had 18 points and 13 rebounds and Jordan totaled 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead King’s.  Palumbo took advantage of some wide open looks to record 24 points on five three-pointers in the win.