BOX SCORE

Wilkes-Barre, PA (February 13, 2010) – Junior Lori Lidlow (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) scored a game-high 27 points, including 12 over the final seven minutes of the game, leading the DeSales University women's basketball team past King's College, 75-63, clinching a Freedom Conference playoff berth and the Bulldogs eighth straight win on Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs are now 14-9 overall and 9-3 in the Freedom Conference, while the Lady Monarchs fall to 12-11 overall and 7-5 in the Freedom. DSU clinches its 13th straight Freedom Conference playoff berth, having qualified for the playoffs now in each of its 13 season after joining the conference in 1997-98. The Bulldogs had a terrific shooting day on Saturday converting 46.8 percent of its attempts and continued its strong defensive play, forcing 26 Lady Monarch turnovers and out-rebounding KC, 38-32. King's was terrific at the foul line, shooting 88.0 percent (22-of-25) for the game.

DeSales led this one wire-to-wire as senior Kelly Magrann (Sinking Spring, PA/Holy Name) got the scoring started with a three-pointer at the 18:17 mark. The lead eventually peaked at 15 points for the Bulldogs in the opening half before King's closed with a 7-0 run to pull within eight points (36-28) at the break.

The second half started all Bulldogs as they used a 10-2 run over the first 3:38 to take a 15-point lead, 46-31. Magrann scored six of the 10 points on two three-pointers. The lead grew to as many as 16 points at the 14:23 mark when the Lady Monarchs made a rally.

King's used a 17-5 run over the next five minutes to pull within four points (56-52) with 9:01 left to play. A jumper from freshman Colleen Gavin (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) put a stop to the KC spurt and ignited a 10-2 run featuring three-point plays from both Gavin and Lidlow over the next three minutes that pushed the lead up to 12 points at the 5:53 mark.

King's chipped away at the lead over the final five minutes but each time Lidlow had the answer scoring seven straight points and finding freshman Jessica Hoover (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) for an easy lay-up over the final three and a half minutes to ice the victory.

Lidlow shot 8-of-16 from the field and was 10-of-12 from the free throw line for her 27 tallies. She had had six rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Magrann finished with 18 points on another impressive shooting night, 7-of-12 from the field, while Gavin totaled 11 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

Sophomore Hannah Smith (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) continued her terrific play at the point guard spot with seven assists, four steals and just two turnovers, while fellow sophomore Cherelle Simmons (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey) totaled five points, seven rebounds, and two blocks. Hoover also gave DSU a big boost off the bench in the second half with a season-high eight points and four rebounds.

King's was led by Paige Carlin and Kayla Dick with 15 points each and Celia Rader with 13 points as the lone double figure scorers.

The Bulldogs return to action on Tuesday when they travel back up to Wilkes-Barre, PA to take on Wilkes University beginning at 6:00 pm as DeSales looks to continue its win streak and stay in the hunt for a top seed in the Freedom Conference playoffs next week.