BOX SCORE

Union, NJ (December 8, 2010) – If there is such a thing as a “good loss” the DeSales University women's basketball team may have had one on Wednesday evening narrowly falling to #4 Kean University, 69-65, on the road in overtime after a wild finish at the end of regulation.

Kean (7-0 overall) seemed to have won the game with 0.1 seconds left when Briana Winston put back a Brittany Powell three-point miss with one tenth of a tick left to give the Cougars a 59-57 lead but the KU bench was given a technical foul for running onto the floor and senior Lori Lidlow hit both technical free throws to tie the game and force overtime.

Kean however responded, scoring the first eight points of the extra session and escaping with the four-point win over the Bulldogs (4-4 overall), who proved they can play with any team in the country on any given night.

Lidlow led the way with a game-high 22 points, including a perfect 12-of-12 effort from the free throw line. Junior Cherelle Simmons notched her fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore Colleen Gavin finished with 14 points and seven boards. Senior Megan Montchyk also came off the bench to tally 10 points, including two three-pointers.

Freshman Emily Cristaldi scored eight of her team-high 18 points in overtime to lead Kean, Naimah Clemons finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, Angelica Bermudez had 10 points, and Danielle McFadden finished with two points and 11 rebounds in the win.  Winston came off the bench to score nine points and grab seven rebounds.

A back-and-forth first half saw both teams struggle mightily from the field as DeSales shot just 32.4 percent from the field and Kean converted just 31.3 percent of its shot attempts but the Bulldogs outscored the Cougars, 12-6, over the final seven minutes to take a 29-23 lead into the locker room. Lidlow led the way with 11 points for DeSales.

In the second half, DSU took control opening up an 11-point lead (38-27) at the 16:07 mark on six points from Gavin and three from Lidlow. After a KU timeout, the Cougars responded with a 9-0 run that cut the deficit quickly down to two points as the two teams went back-and-forth the rest of the way.

Kean finally tied the game at the 12:10 mark at 40 and there were six ties and five lead changes over those final 12 minutes. After Clemons made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe with 27 seconds left to give Kean a 57-55 lead, Montchyk converted a lay-up with 11 seconds left to re-tie the game and set up the final scene that began with Winston's put-back.

In the overtime period, Cristaldi hit consecutive three's to open the extra five minutes and the Bulldogs missed their first six shots as the Cougars took an eight-point lead and DeSales never got any closer than four points.

DeSales finished the game shooting just 30.7 percent from the field but did shoot 84.2 percent (16-of-19) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs forced 24 Cougar turnovers. KU held a slim 53-51 advantage on the glass and did rebound from a poor first-half shooting performance to shoot 43.6 percent in the second half and overtime.

DeSales returns to action on Saturday when they host Messiah College in another match-up with a team receiving votes in the D3hoops.com top 25 poll. Game time is set for 1:00 pm.