July 30, 2008

Sacred Heart's former two-time captain and assistant coach Kerri Burke (Saugus, MA) has signed on to play with Halle Lions in the German DBBL Women's Basketball League starting play this August. The Liones competes in a Division-1 league which can send teams to comepte in the EuroCup.

Burke was the Pioneers starting point guard her sophomore through senior seasons and helped guide Sacred Heart to back-to-back regular season Northeast Conference Championships and a trip to the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Her biggest feat came midway through her senior season when she suffered what for most would have been a season-ending knee injury. Burke, however, battled her way back and returned to the starting line-up a month later to lead the Pioneers down the stretch toward another NEC Tournament appearance.

The Saugus, Massachusetts native graduated from the University with a degree in psychology in 2007 and moved on to make her collegiate coaching debut as a member of Head Coach Ed Swanson's staff last season. She spent a year on the SHU bench helping coach the guard positions and a pair of freshman in point guard Maggie Cosgrove and NEC Rookie of the Year Alisa Apo. During the season, she finished working on her Master's Degree in Teaching at Sacred Heart.

Over her playing career, she helped lead Sacred Heart to an 87-34 (.719) four-year record, the best four year stretch for any player in the program's history. she is Sacred Heart's all-time leader in assists with 394 while her 139 assists (4.5 apg) in 2005-06 rank second all-time for assists in a season. Burke finished her career with 809 points (7.4 ppg), 275 rebounds (2.5 rpg), 394 assists (3.6) and 173 steals (1.6 spg) while her 117 career three-point field goals is tied for 10th all-time.

Burke joins a group of former Pioneers who have played professionall in recent years. Amanda Pape, fellow 2007 graduate and the program's all-time leading scorer, spent last year playing in Greece. Nicolle Rubino, a 2006 graduate, played a season in Holland while 2005 graduate Colleen White has spent two seasons playing in Holland and Germany. Kate Maher, a 2004 SHU grad and native of Ireland, played professional stints in both Switzerland and Austria and has also played with the Irish National team.