Twice as Nice; #23 Bulldogs Win Back-to-Back Titles

Senior LeighAnn Burke earned Most Valuable Player honors averaging 22.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the two playoff wins.

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Center Valley, PA (February 28, 2009) – The 23^rd ranked DeSales University women's basketball will be dancing again as the Bulldogs claimed their second straight Freedom Conference title defeating Manhattanville College, 70-60, on Saturday afternoon in Billera Hall to earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament next week.

Senior LeighAnn Burke (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) proved to everyone in attendance why she is in fact an All-American, taking over the game on the offensive end over the final five minutes to lead the Bulldogs (23-4 overall) to their second straight Freedom Conference championship crown.

Manhattanville College (17-10 overall) gave DSU everything they had pulling within two points, 56-54, at the 5:58 mark on a three-point play from senior Jess Delagrange. Burke found freshman Cherelle Simmons (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey) for a short jumper on the pick-and-roll on the very next possession to put DSU back up four points with just over five and a half to play.

After both teams came up empty on two straight possessions, Burke was fouled at the 3:31 mark and hit two charity tosses to put DSU up six. A missed trey by Simona Gordon gave DSU the ball back and Burke was again fouled in the back court sending her to the line for two more free throws. Once again she knocked them down and the Bulldogs had taken an eight-point advantage with 2:56 to go.

Sophomore Carey Hickey pulled MC within six with a lay-up and after consecutive DeSales misses, senior Olivia Nastasi hit two free throws to pull the Valiants back within four at the two minute mark.

From this point, Burke was simply sensational. With the shot clock winding down, she spun away from a double-team on the left wing, dribbled into the lane and after briefly losing control of the ball, pulled up for a short jumper to push DSU back up six points. MVille refused to surrender though and two free throws from Hickey made it another four-point game with 1:26 to go, before Burke went to work again.

This time she got the ball on the right wing and with the shot clock again down to under 10 seconds, she drove right along the right baseline, pulled up for a short 10-foot jumper and canned it, giving the Bulldogs a six-point cushion once again. On the very next possession, Burke stole the ball and raced down court with junior Kelly Magrann (Sinking Spring, PA/Holy Name) trailing the play, she laid the ball off to a streaking Magrann who converted the lay-up and DeSales was quickly up eight points with just 45 seconds left.

A Manhattanville miss and two more Burke free throws sealed the deal as the Bulldogs dribbled out the clock and once again got to celebrate a Freedom Conference championship.

This was a great game from a fan's perspective all day long as the Valiants came to play and mounted several charges on the top seeded Bulldogs. In the opening half, DSU took a 20-7 lead to start the game but went ice cold from the field as MC slowly chipped away at the lead. A 9-0 run cut the margin down to four points (20-16), and a three-pointer from Gordon with three seconds left made the score, 25-22, at the break.

In the second-half, DSU went up nine points (40-31) at the 13:57 mark, before the Valiants stormed back with a 12-3 run to tie the game at 43 with 9:57 to go. Consecutive three-pointers between two Valiant free throws from junior Kaila Wiand (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford) put DSU up four and a huge three-pointer from Burke on a spectacular offensive rebound from Simmons gave DeSales five-point cushion with 6:45 left, setting up the final five minutes.

Burke earned Freedom Conference Playoffs Most Valuable Player honors as she finished with 29 points and seven assists in the championship game win. In the two playoff games, she averaged 22.5 points and 7.0 assists per game. Junior Caitlin Miller (Fogelsville, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 boards and Simmons grabbed a game-high 12 boards in the win.

Several bench players stepped and served as un-sung heroes and none more than freshman Hannah Smith (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) who stepped in for an injured fellow freshman Megan Bedard (Limerick, PA/Spring-Ford), who was already stepping in for the injured senior point guard starter #Kim Rarick# (Ringtown, PA/North Schuylkill). Smith played 23 solid minutes, 17 in the second half and grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists.

Wiand finished with nine points, all of which came from three-land and Magrann led the charge off the bench with nine points. Bedard also tallied six points before being forced to the bench with a leg injury and sophomore Shaina Dymond (Shickshinny, PA/Northwest) had six rebounds and four blocks in the win.

Gordon was tremendous for the Valiants, totaling 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Nastasi also reached double figures with 13 points. Delagrange just missed double figures with nine points off the bench.

The Bulldogs will now await their NCAA Tournament fate, which is scheduled to be announced by the NCAA on Monday morning. You can find out all the details of DSU's opponent and site for the first and second round on Monday afternoon on DeSales web site.

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