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With the season on the line, Misericordia went right to Justine Seely.

The Cougars’ senior forward was in the spotlight again on Wednesday night, scoring in the waning seconds of regulation to tie up DeSales in a league semifinal.

Misericordia eventually fell in double overtime, but not before Seely recorded an impressive 17th double-double on the season with 16 points and 15 rebounds.

The next morning, the Freedom Conference made it official, naming Seely the league’s Player of the Year in a vote by coaches. Jason Rhine was also honored as Coach of the Year by his peers after his first season leading the Cougars saw them boost their record by 11 wins.

Seely was one of three Misericordia players to be named all-conference, appearing on the first team. Fellow forward Rachel Carmody made the second team and guard Japriya Carroll was an honorable mention.

King’s forward Olivia Hoffman, a Wyoming Valley West grad, was also an honorable mention pick as one of the national leaders in blocks.

FDU-Florham’s Kendrea Williams earned the Rookie of the Year award.

At the top of the ballot, Seely made an impact at both ends of the court. Known as “Juice” to teammates and coaches, Seely led the league in rebounding at 11.8 per game and finished in the top five in scoring (15.4), blocks (3.0), shooting percentage (43.9) and free throw percentage (74.8).

Rhine, a Pennsylvania native, said during the season that he had previously followed Seely’s high school career at Benton and was excited to be able to coach her for one year.

“I sat down with her at the beginning of the year and just told her, ‘We’re going to make this thing special for you this last year,’ ” Rhine said in January. “In my opinion, I think she got robbed of her first three years here. And that’s my only regret is not having four years with her.”

As for Rhine himself, his immediate impact on the program was noted by opposing coaches throughout the season. Misericordia had missed the playoffs the previous four years after winning the conference in 2011-12, hitting a low point of 1-24 in 2014-15.

Highly successful DeSales coach Fred Richter praised Rhine for his work after Wednesday’s thriller.

“Very simply, their kids are playing smarter and harder,” Richter said. “And you always want to give that credit to the coach. He’s done a phenomenal job with the same kids that we rattled their cages twice last year. They believe in themselves and they’re talented. They’re a very good team.”

The Misericordia women now await a potential invitation to an eight-team ECAC tournament next week.

On the men’s side, the Cougars will look for their third Freedom Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament on Saturday.

And their chance will come at home.

A day after Misericordia knocked off Eastern in the semifinals, No. 4 DeSales took down top-seeded Delaware Valley as the Bulldogs handled the defending champion Aggies, 79-57. The game had been postponed from Wednesday because of a power outage at Delaware Valley.

DeSales’ win means that Saturday’s title game will be played at Misericordia’s Anderson Center with a tip-off set for 3 p.m. The Cougars swept the regular season series from the Bulldogs, allowing Misericordia to move ahead of DeSales for the No. 3 seed.

Prior to that, the men’s team will try to match the women in the trophy department.

Jason Kenny and Tony Harding are strong candidates to win Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively, when the awards are announced Friday.

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Misericordia senior Justine Seely was named Freedom Conference Player of the Year by league coaches on Thursday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_ttl022317muhoops-42017223142126572-2.jpg.optimal.jpgMisericordia senior Justine Seely was named Freedom Conference Player of the Year by league coaches on Thursday. Amanda Hrycyna | For Times Leader

By Derek Levarse

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Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse