Women's Basketball 12/4/2008 12:12:23 AM BJ Spigelmyer - DeSales SID

Burke/Rarick lead #17 Bulldogs past FDU-Florham, 78-72

Seniors LeighAnn Burke and Kim Rarick combined for 53 points in the win at FDU-Florham.

Box Score BOX SCORE

Madison, NJ (December 3, 2008) – The backcourt combination of seniors LeighAnn Burke (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) and Kim Rarick (Ringtown, PA/North Schuylkill) combined to score 53 points, hand out seven assists, and swipe eight steals leading the 17^th ranked DeSales University women's basketball team past FDU-Florham, 78-72, in the Freedom Conference season opener.

The game was a rematch of last year's Freedom Conference title game as the Bulldogs rebounded from their first loss of the season last Tuesday at Moravian College. DSU is now 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the Freedom, while the Devils fall to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the Freedom.

DeSales shook off a poor shooting effort in the loss to Moravian with an excellent night from the floor on Wednesday shooting 49.1 percent from the field, including a 54.8 percent effort in the opening half.

The Bulldogs dominated the final five minutes of the half using a 17-4 run to end the half extending a two-point lead into a 15-point halftime advantage. During the run Burke led the way with 11 points, while Rarick had four tallies and freshman Hannah Smith (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) added her only bucket of the game.

The start of the second half was a complete reversal to the end of the first half as FDU came out on fire. After two free throws from freshman Megan Bedard (Limerick, PA/Spring-Ford) gave DeSales a 17-point lead at the 17:15 mark, the Devils went on a 15-1 run over the next 10 minutes to cut the margin down to three points. Junior Danielle Michlovsky (six points) and senior Emily Cerankowski (five points) did most of the damage during the run.

Burke answered the spurt with a three-pointer pushing the lead to six points but another Devil run (10-3 spurt over the next three minutes) brought FDU all the way back as they took its first lead of the second-half, 57-56, with 7:54 to play.

The game was back-and-forth over the next few possessions before three straight buckets from Burke over a two minute span pushed DSU in front by five points with 4:35 remaining. After a jumper from Cerankowski cut the lead down to three points, senior Erica Sovak (Tuxedo, NY/Sleepy Hollow) grabbed an offensive rebound on the next possession and hit a very important lay-up and a free throw to give DSU a six-point lead with just over two minutes to go.

After two free throws from Meghan Lentine with 1:19 to go, DSU missed a lay-up but Cerankowski was off the mark on a jumper and the Bulldogs converted 5-for-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch to ice the road win.

Burke finished with a game and season-high 33 points on 12-of-21 shooting and added six rebounds and five steals. Rarick had 20 points and dished out four assists and had three steals to lead the way. Junior Caitlin Miller (Fogelsville, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) again dominated the glass, pulling down 13 rebounds, including two big ones late in the game.

Bedard and fellow freshman Cherelle Simmons (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey) had terrific games off the bench with Bedard netting 10 points and Simmons tallying four points, six rebounds, and two steals.

The Devils had four players reach double digits including Cerankowski and Michlovsky with 20 points each. Junior Courtney Young finished with 15 points and seven assists and sophomore Shealyn Taggart had 11 points and three blocks in the loss.

The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, December 6^th as they take to the road once again traveling to Misericordia University for another Freedom Conference game beginning at 1:00 pm.

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