Box Score BOX SCORE
Center Valley, Pa. (March 1, 2008) – The 23rd ranked DeSales University women's basketball team won its third MAC/Freedom Conference Championship and the first since the 1999-00 season with its 13th straight win, 75-60, over FDU-Florham in front of a packed house in Billera Hall on Saturday afternoon to earn the Freedom Conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Juniors LeighAnn Burke (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) and Kim Rarick (Ringtown, PA/North Schuylkill) led the way combining for 45 points as Burke was named the Freedom Conference playoffs Most Valuable Player totaling 45 points over the two playoff games. The Bulldogs (24-3 overall) shot 45.5 percent from the field and continued its strong free throw shooting knocking down 91.2 percent (31-of-34) from the charity stripe. The Devils (17-10 overall) saw their Cinderella run come to an end despite out-rebounding DSU, 31-29.
Tied at eight over the first 7:18 of the opening half, senior Jenna Stampf (Nazareth, PA/Notre Dame) and Burke combined for the next 11 points that gave DSU a 19-8 lead at the 8:46 mark. Junior Emily Cerankowski then caught fire for the Devils scoring 12 points over the last 8 and ½ minutes of the first half to cut the lead down to four points before Stampf nailed two freebies with 3 ticks left to give the Bulldogs a 30-24 halftime cushion.
The start of the second half was back-and-forth as a lay-up from sophomore Danielle Michlovsky cut the deficit down to four points at the 17:04 mark before a quick 6-0 run featuring a lay-up from Burke, two free throws from Rarick and a driving off-balance lay-up from sophomore Kaila Wiand (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford) pushed the lead back to double digits, 41-31, with 14:31 to play.
FDU was able to get within six at the 10:53 mark on two free throws from Michlovsky but four straight free throws from Rarick and a three-pointer from Burke over the next two minutes gave DSU its largest lead to that point, 13 points, and the Devils were never able to get within single digits the rest of the way.
Burke shot 10-for-18 from the floor en route to her game-high 26 points and Rarick, who entered the game ranked #1 in the country in free throw shooting, bettered her season average by going 15-for-15 from the charity stripe. Rarick also added six assists and blocked a career-high three shots.
Stampf and fellow senior Amanda Kuperavage (Port Carbon, PA/Nativity BVM) were each terrific this afternoon as they both scored 10 points with Stampf pulling down seven rebounds and swiping four steals, while Wiand rounded out the scoring leaders with eight points.
Cerankowski finished with 26 points tying Burke for the game-high, while Michlovsky finished with 14 points and sophomore Courtney Young finished with 12 points for the Devils.
The Bulldogs will now await its NCAA Tournament seeding and opponent which will be announced on Monday morning. Details of DeSales' spot in the bracket will be posted on the DSU web site – http://athletics.desales.edu – as soon as it is received on Monday morning.
