Kelly was fouled after she had grabbed an offensive rebound on junior Alyssa Antolick’s off-balance jumper with just one tick left. She stepped to the line having gone 1-for-4 from the charity stripe during the game and calmly swished both freebies giving DeSales the tournament championship.
The Bulldogs end their season with a 24-5 overall record, while the Presidents of W&J conclude its 2003-04 season with a 20-9 overall mark. DSU held W&J to just 23 second-half points after the Presidents had torched the nets for 53 points in the first half.
Washington & Jefferson led by 11 points, 53-42, at the half and held a 10-point edge, 57-47, with 18:02 left in the second half. Two free throws by senior Jen Rautzhan ignited an 8-0 run that was capped by a lay-up plus one by senior Amy Yencho and the lead was cut to two points 57-55.
The game went back-and-forth over the next six minutes as the Presidents continued to lead by one at 65-63 with 8:37 remaining. Two charity tosses by Antolick tied it and two more freebies by junior Holly Liebl gave DSU a two-point edge, which grew to seven points, 73-66, on a free throw by Kelly at the 6:03 mark.
W&J then went on a 5-0 spurt cutting the DSU lead to two points, but junior Jen Netwall pushed it back up to four points with 2:39 left to play. A lay-up by Shawndra McDonald made it 75-73 and a foul shot on the next possession cut the margin to one with 1:16 left to play. DSU than turned the ball over two straight times and the Presidents finally capitalized as McDonald scored on a lay-up with 40 ticks left to push the Presidents ahead by one at 76-75.
Another DSU turnover forced DSU to play tough defense, which they did as they rebounded a missed trey by McDonald and pushed the ball up the court, calling timeout with eight seconds left. Antolick took the inbounds, drove the lane, and tossed up an off-balance jumper that rimmed off but Kelly was waiting on the other side for the rebound and was immediately fouled on the put-back sending her to the line for the eventual game-winners.
Antolick was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player as she scored 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Yencho also tallied double digits with 17 points and four steals, Liebl tallied seven points and grabbed 12 rebounds off the bench and Rautzhan finished her career with seven points and seven rebounds. Kelly totaled three points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists, while holding W&J’s leading scorer to zero points on the second half.
The senior McDonald, who totaled 31 points on 12-of-29 shooting, led W&J, while sophomore Leigh Sulkowski tallied 14 points, all in the first half, and Amanda Stanonik added 16 tallies in the loss.