Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Thursday, March 06, 2003 Page: 3B
WILKES-BARRE – The King’s College women’s basketball team dominated the
2003 MAC Freedom Conference all-star team.
Junior guard Tiffini Varrasse was named the Freedom Conference Most
Valuable Player, while senior guard Nikki Kingston was also named to the
first-team. Senior forward Jen Wozniak, a Wyoming Area graduate, was a
second-team choice.
King’s coach Bryan Whitten was also honored as the Freedom Conference Coach
of the Year for the third consecutive year.
A 5-foot-5 point guard, Varrasse enjoyed an outstanding season for the Lady
Monarchs. She was second on the team in scoring with 12.7 points per game
while leading the team with 4.8 assists and 3.5 steals each contest. She also
chipped in with 3.3 rebounds per game. Her 125 assists stands as the second
most in King’s history.
Varrasse’s selection marked the fifth consecutive year a Lady Monarch
player has been selected as conference MVP.
Kingston, the 2002 Freedom Conference MVP, battled through an injury filled
senior year to earn first-team honors for the second consecutive year. A 5-6
guard, Kingston was third on the team in scoring at 11.6 points per game while
adding 4.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.7 steals.
Wozniak, who was a first-team selection as a junior, slipped to second-team
in 2003 despite having improved numbers as a senior. The 5-11 Wozniak led
King’s in scoring (15.1) and rebounding (6.3) for the second consecutive year
and ranked third in the conference in field goal percentage, hitting 50
percent of her shots. She scored in double figures in 24 of King’s 26 games,
including 15 in a row.
Whitten led King’s to a 23-3 record, the 2003 Freedom Conference title and
a fourth consecutive NCAA Division III National Tournament berth. Whitten has
been named the conference’s top coach five times during his 10-year career
with the Lady Monarchs.
King’s will host a second-round NCAA Tournament game 7 p.m. Saturday
against the winner of Wednesday’s first-round pairing between Mount St. Mary’s
College and Pitt-Greensburg.
WILKES WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Wilkes University senior center Whitney Bull has been named a second-team
Freedom All-Conference honoree in a balloting of the conference coaches. Bull,
who is one of ten finalists for the Jostens Trophy, awarded annually to the
top player in Division III, was a second-team selection for the second
consecutive season.
Bull averaged 16.5 points and 13.5 rebounds per game this season. Overall,
she ranked first in the conference in rebounding and second in scoring. She
was also sixth in the league in steals (2.5), fourth in blocked shots (1.38)
and eighth in field goal percentage (45.2 percent). In conference games, she
was first in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.2 points and 13.7
rebounds per game. The Berwick High School graduate also registered a
conference-leading 19 double-doubles in 24 games this season.
WILKES WRESTLING
Two Wilkes University wrestlers have their sights set on the NCAA Division
III National Championships, which will be held tomorrow and Saturday at Ohio
Northern University.
The Colonels, who are ranked 23rd in the latest Division III team rankings,
will be represented by sophomore Rex Harris and senior Corey Fleisher.
Harris earned his trip to the national tournament by winning the 174-pound
title at the Middle Atlantic Conference championships, where he was also named
the Most Outstanding Wrestler. He is 34-3 and ranked fifth nationally.
One of Harris’ losses this season came at the hands of the nation’s
top-ranked wrestler, Montclair State’s Edward Aliakseyenka. Harris dropped a
7-2 decision to Aliakseyenka in the quarterfinals of the Wilkes Open in
December.
Fleisher will be making his second consecutive appearance at the national
tournament. He won his second consecutive MAC heavyweight crown with a win
over Jared Potsko of King’s College. Fleisher is 33-2, including 20 wins by
fall.
One of the wrestlers whom Fleisher will see at the national tournament is
top-ranked Leroy Gardner III from Wartburg College.
At last season’s NCAA Championships at the First Union Arena in
Wilkes-Barre, Fleisher dropped a 9-7 overtime decision to Gardner in an
opening-round match.