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Sports News: Winter 2009-10

Thursday, February 25, 2010

MORAVIAN TO HOST SCRANTON IN LANDMARK CONFERENCE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

BETHLEHEM, PA --- The Moravian College women’s basketball team will make its seventh appearance in a conference championship game in the last eight years as the top seeded Greyhounds will host second seeded The University of Scranton in the 2010 Landmark Conference Championship game on Saturday, February 27th at 2:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall.

The winner of the game will earn the Landmark Conference’s first automatic berth to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament.  Moravian advanced to the title game with a 52-44 win over fourth seeded Susquehanna University while Scranton, the two-time defending Landmark Conference Champions, toped third seeded Juniata College, 70-62, in Wednesday’s other semifinal.

Tickets will be $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and non-Landmark Conference students.  Children ten and under are free as are students at all Landmark Conference schools.

The Greyhounds, who have an overall record of 24-2 and posted a 14-0 slate in the Landmark Conference regular season, the first undefeated season in either men’s or women’s basketball in the brief history of the Landmark Conference, have won 20 games for the third time in five years and the 15th time in the last 26 seasons. 

Moravian head coach Mary Beth Spirk has the Greyhounds in the playoffs for the ninth straight year and the 20th time in her 23 years as head coach.  Spirk, who has an overall record of 433-197, has the Greyhounds looking for the program’s first conference title since 1991-92.  The Greyhounds, who are hosting a conference championship game for the first time since 2005, reached the Commonwealth Conference finals each year from 2003 through 2007 and the Landmark Conference title game at Scranton last year, which the Royals won 71-57 in Scranton.

Leading the Greyhounds is senior forward Kirsty Stearns (East Norwich, NY/Oyster Bay HS), who is averaging 11.8 points per game to go along with an average of 6.6 rebounds per contest.  Stearns also has 31 assists, 50 blocked shots and 41 steals.  Senior guard Kate Harrison (Cold Spring Harbor, NY/Cold Spring Harbor HS) is averaging 10.7 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per outing, and Harrison has added a team high 82 assists to go with a team leading 43 steals and 23 blocked shots while senior guard Jessica Foran (Annandale, NJ/Rutgers Prep HS) is contributing 10.4 points per game with 77 rebounds, 50 assists, 35 steals, five three-pointers and eight blocked shots.  Harrison and Foran, pictured at left, are two of five Moravian players with more assists than turnovers this season with Harrison turning the ball over 60 times and Foran committing just 40 turnovers.

The trio of Harrison, who was named the 2010 Co-Lehigh Valley Small College Women's Basketball Pete Nevins Player of the Year last Thursday, Stearns and Foran are all moving up Moravian's record books.  Harrison became the 19th 1,000-point scorer in school history and currently has 1,108 points. Stearns, this week’s Landmark Conference Player of the Week, reached the 1,000-point plateau and sits at 1,089 for her career while Foran reached 1,000 points in Moravian's last game and currently has 1,078 points.  Stearns also has 634 career rebounds, which ranks eighth in school history.

Senior forward Alyssa Bisci (Easton, PA/Easton HS) is adding 10.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game to go with 35 steals, 28 assists, five three-pointers and seven blocked shots, and Bisci, pictured at right, has 940 points and 468 rebounds in her career.  Sophomore forward Alexandra Blair (Hellertown, PA/Bethlehem Catholic HS) is contributing 8.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest to go along with a team high and school record 68 blocked shots, 25 assists and 20 steals while junior guard/forward Emily Smith (East Stroudsburg, PA/East Stroudsburg South HS) is putting up 7.8 points per game to go along with 98 rebounds, 32 assists, 29 steals, six three-pointers and six blocked shots. 

Senior guard Amanda Brown (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Schuylkill Haven HS) is netting 7.3 points per game to go along with a team high 47 three-pointers, 38 rebounds, 38 assists, 22 steals and a pair of blocked shots, and Brown, pictured at left, is third in school history with her 190 career three-pointers.  Sophomore guard Hilary Murray (Clinton, NJ/North Hunterdon HS) is contributing 5.1 points per game to go along with 44 rebounds, 44 assists, 37 steals and 17 three-pointers so far this season while junior forward Amy Heffner (Schnecksville, PA/Parkland HS), who returned to action after missing nine games, is averaging 5.6 points per game with 59 rebounds, 16 assists, five blocked shots and seven steals. 

Senior forward Alyson Steltz (Emmaus, PA/Emmaus HS) has 29 points, 18 steals, 19 assists and 27 rebounds while junior forward Amie Ballo (Andes, NY/Andes Central HS) has added 24 points, 24 rebounds and four blocked shots this year.  Freshmen guard Amanda Kreuder (Bryam, NJ/Morris Catholic HS) has contributed 34 points, 20 assists, 17 rebounds and ten steals in her first year at Moravian while sophomore guard Cassandra Phillips (Orwigsburg, PA/Nativity BVM HS) has 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.  Junior guard Jennie Miller (Lewisburg, PA/Lewisburg HS) has 14 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots, two assists and two steals on the year.

Scranton, which lost to Moravian, 73-63, in Scranton on December 5th and, 77-60, in Bethlehem on February 20th during the season, is currently 22-4 overall, and the Royals were 12-2 during the Landmark Conference regular season.  Scranton is the second seed in a conference tournament for the first time since 2003 and is coached by Mike Strong, who is in his 30th season with a career mark of 735-150.  The Royals have won six straight conference championships between the Landmark Conference and the Freedom Conference but all of the wins have come in Scranton.  The Royals have not won a conference title on the road since 1996.

The game will match two of the top teams in NCAA Division III this season.  The Greyhounds enter the game ranked ninth in the nation in the D3hoops.com Top 25, tenth in the USA Today ESPN Division III Coaches Top 25 and first in the NCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic Region while Scranton is 15th in the D3hoops.com poll, tied for 17th in the coaches’ poll and fifth in the Mid-Atlantic Region.