BOX SCORE

Ithaca, NY (March 6, 2010) – They say all good things must come to an end and for the DeSales University women's basketball team, the end came on Saturday as the Bulldogs fell victim to an extremely hot shooting Williams College team, 94-77, ending DSU's 13-game winning streak and its NCAA Tournament run in the second round in what was an amazing second-half of the 2009-10 season.

The Bulldogs finish the season with a 19-10 overall record and can keep their head held high, turning around a season that started with a 5-8 record before the team hung together and finished the year with a 14-2 record over the last 16 games, winning their third straight Freedom Conference championship and advancing to their third straight NCAA Tournament.

DSU fell behind early on Saturday as the Ephs (20-7 overall) jumped out to a 19-4 lead at the 13:48 mark of the first half and led by 16, 26-10, at the 9:46 mark before the Bulldogs got it going. DeSales continued to show no quit using a 14-5 run to get within five points (29-24) at the 5:52 mark as four different Bulldogs scored including sophomore Cherelle Simmons (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey) and freshman Colleen Gavin (Quakertown, PA/Quakertown) with four points each.

Williams answered with five straight points to push the lead back up to 10 points but five straight points from Gavin and a lay-up from freshman Jessica Hoover (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus) pulled DSU back within five (36-31) with 3:48 to go in the opening half. The Ephs again pushed the lead back to 10 and led 43-33 at the break.

In the second half, DSU trimmed the margin down to eight points early in the half but Williams did an excellent job of taking care of the ball, committing just 14 turnovers for the game against a Bulldogs defense that was averaging 23.7 takeaways per game and led by 10+ points the rest of the way. The Ephs shot 51.7 percent from the field and out-rebounded DeSales, 40-28, on the glass. The Bulldogs shot well, converting 43.8 percent and had just 11 turnovers themselves in the loss.

The loss ends the careers of seniors Caitlin Miller (Fogelsville, PA/Northwestern Lehigh), Kelly Magrann (Sinking Spring, PA/Holy Name), and Kaila Wiand (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford). Together this group won three Freedom Conference championships, advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times, and amassed a four-year record of 84-29 (.743). On Saturday Wiand contributed nine points off the bench and Magrann finished with three points on a tough shooting night, but was a huge part of DSU's success in the second half of the season, making 61 three's on the year and averaging 10.7 points per game.

Leading the way on Saturday was Simmons with a career-high 19 points. Gavin added 15 points and junior Lori Lidlow (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) finished with 16 points. Hoover also continued her strong end of the season presence with eight points and five boards off the bench.

Taylor Shea led five players in double figures for the Ephs with 24 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Chessie Jackson had 23 points, Grace Rehnquist added 17 points, Claire Baecher totaled 12 points, and Jill Greenberg finished with 10 points.