#23 Bulldogs Advance to Title Game With 71-45 Win over King’s

Senior LeighAnn Burke and freshman Megan Bedard combined for 31 points and 10 assists in the win over King's.

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Center Valley, PA (February 25, 2009) – The #23 ranked DeSales University women's basketball team used an early 12-0 run to take a 12-point lead and never looked back in a 71-45 win over King's College advancing the Bulldogs to the Freedom Conference championship game for the second straight year.

The top seeded Bulldogs will host the #2 seed, Manhattanville College, a 70-65 winner over #3 Alvernia University also on Wednesday in the title game in Billera Hall on Saturday afternoon. Game time is set for 1:00 pm with the winner taking home the conference crown and also earning an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

King's (11-16 overall) pounded the glass early and often on Wednesday night, scoring eight second-chance points over the first four minutes of the game to remain tied with the Bulldogs at the 16:20 mark. A three-pointer from senior LeighAnn Burke (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) ignited a 12-0 run featuring four three-pointers including two from junior Kelly Magrann (Sinking Spring, PA/Holy Name) and one more from junior Kaila Wiand (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford) giving DSU a 20-8 lead and the Bulldogs never looked back from there.

DSU extended its first-half advantage to as many as 21 points and led by 19 at the break, 39-20. Burke and freshman Megan Bedard (Limerick, PA/Spring-Ford) led the way with 21 total points in the opening half as DSU shot 9-of-17 (52.9%) from three-point land and held the Lady Monarchs to just 28.6 percent shooting.

The second half was all DeSales with the lead ballooning to as many as 28 points on several different occasions before the final tally was posted. The Bulldogs shot 57.9 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game converting 48.1 percent of its shot attempts. KC, on the other hand, made just 29.8 percent of its shot attempts and committed 21 turnovers in the loss.

Burke led the way totaling a game-high 16 points, dishing out seven assists, and tallying four steals in the win. Bedard tallied a season-high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and also had three assists. Magrann came off the bench to pour in 11 points and sophomore Shaina Dymond (Shickshinny, PA/Northwest) added 10 points, five rebounds, and four blocked shots off the pine. Freshman Cherelle Simmons (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey) also made her presence felt with a season-high five blocked shots on the defensive end.

Senior Kaitlyn Fiorino finished her career with a team-high 12 points and freshman Paige Carlin added seven tallies in the loss.

The Bulldogs will be making their eighth trip to the Freedom Conference championship game in 12-career playoff appearances. DSU has won three Freedom Conference titles in its previous seven trips to the title game.

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