King's Women Get ECAC Bid

The Kings College womens basketball team will begin play in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Southern Regional Championships on Wednesday when the Lady Monarchs travel to Stevenson, MD to face Villa Julie College in a 7:00 p.m. contest. The Lady Monarchs are seeded first in the eight-team field but will travel to eighth-seeded Villa Julie on Wednesday as Kings prepares to host an NCAA Division III National Tournament mens contest Thursday against Widener. Kings enters the ECAC tournament with a 19-8 record after falling to Scranton 79-63 in the Freedom Conference championship game on Saturday. Villa Julie stands at 19-9 on the year after falling 67-44 to Keuka College in the finals of the North East Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday. Kings is led by its pair of Freedom Conference All-Star selections Andrea Hochstuhl and Jenna Palumbo. Hochstuhl, a 6-foot junior center, earned first-team all-conference honors after averaging 14.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per-game with 52 blocked shots. Palumbo, a junior shooting guard, was a second-team choice and averages 15.2 points and 3.0 rebounds while converting on a school-record 94 three-point field goals. Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Fiorino follows with averages of 13.7 points and 3.3 rebounds with 60 three-pointers while senior forward Casey Heitman posts 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds with 26 treys. Junior guard Lauren Kendra has tallied 5.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 3.1 steals per-game. She is one assist away from setting Kings single-season record for assists as she is currently tied with Elaine Colyer who established the record of 161 assists during the 1996-97 campaign. Sophomore forward Brittany Atzert averages 4.7 points and 3.8 rebounds. Sophomore forward Sarah Darling contributes 2.3 and 3.4 boards while freshman forward Kaitlyn Malshefski chips in with 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds. Kings averages 68.6 points per-game while yielding 59.9 each contest. The Lady Monarchs enter the ECAC tournament winning 13 of their last 16 games. Villa Julie, which has won five of its last six games, is led by senior guard Cara Hill with 14.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists with 37 three-pointers. Junior forward Tanisha Foster follows with 14.2 points and 9.9 rebounds with 65 blocked shots. Sophomore guard Tara Galvin adds 7.6 points with 47 treys while junior guard Tonia Cristino tallies 7.3 points, 4.0 assists, and 2.4 rebounds with 31 three-pointers. Senior forward Kim Hutchinson chips in with 6.3 points and 3.2 rebounds. The Mustangs average 60.5 points per-game while allowing 52.8. Should Kings emerge victorious, the Lady Monarchs would face the winner of the other first-round pairing between fourth-seeded Washington & Jefferson and fifth-seeded Cabrini on Friday at a site and time to be determined. 2007 ECAC Souther Region Championships Schedule: First-Round - Wednesday, February 28, 2007 #1 Kings (19-8) @ #8 Villa Julie (19-9), 7:00 p.m. #5 Cabrini (19-8) @ #4 Washington & Jefferson (19-8), 7:00 p.m. #6 Neumann (18-9) @ #3 Albright (17-9), 7:00 p.m. #7 Moravian (16-11) @ #2 Penn State Behrend (21-5), 7:00 p.m. Semi-Finals - Friday, March 2, 2007 Kings-Villa Julie winner vs. Cabrini-W&J winner, TBA Neumann-Albright winner vs. Moravian-Penn State Behrend winner, TBA Finals - Saturday, March 3, 2007 Winners of semi-finals, TBA