Senior Victoria Webber (Silver Spring, Md.) had 14 points and three rebounds in the loss, while freshman Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) finished with six points and four boards. Junior guard Dawn Garcia (Brooklyn, N.Y.) dished out a game-high five assists, while senior center Victoria O'Connor (Westwood, N.J.) grabbed five rebounds.
Three Lady Royals finished in double figures led by Jennifer King's (Taylor, Pa.) 13, while senior guards Colleen McLane (Scranton, Pa.) and Megan Kopecki (Millington, N.J.) had 10 points apiece. Kopecki added six rebounds, six steals, and four assists in the win, while junior forward Sarah Gage (Ledgewood, N.J.) chipped in with eight points and six boards.
Barrett opened up scoring in the first minute of action, converting a three-point play the old-fashioned way with the help of a nice Garcia feed into the low post. Webber then buried a jumper to up the margin to five before a Gage basket put Scranton on the board.
Ahead by four with just under 15 minutes to go in the half, freshman Molly Spadaro (Sewell, N.J.) found the range from long distance, momentarily increasing the lead to seven, but a Kopecki triple on the ensuing Lady Royals' possession trimmed the Scranton deficit to four.
Kopecki then connected on a runner in the lane before a Katie Cunningham (Carden City, N.Y.) three-point play gave the Lady Royals their first lead of the evening. A Kopecki free-throw coupled with a McLane three upped the lead to five before a King jumper made it 19-12 at the 10:54 mark.
Stevens responded with a quick 6-2 run – buoyed by a pair of Webber treys – to cut the lead to three, but a King basket from behind the arc once again made it a six-point game.
Still down six at 6:42 after a Kopecki jumper, the Ducks rattled off an 8-0 run over the next four and a half minutes of action, taking a 28-26 lead on an Isaura Guzman (Union City N.Y.) free-throw. Barrett got things started, connecting on a pair of attempts from the charity stripe before hitting a jumper to pull Stevens within two. After a Kopecki turnover on the other end, Barrett made it seven-straight points, drilling a three from the left baseline, to put the Ducks back on top.
Cunningham knotted the game at 28 with just over two to go, but Barrett continued to stay hot, notching another free-throw and a layup down the stretch to stake Stevens to a three-point margin heading into the intermission.
The Philadelphia, Pa. native continued to roll after the break, burying a three to open up scoring, giving the Ducks a six-point cushion, but seven unanswered Scranton points, kick-started by a Gage jumper and capped off by an Alison Sweeney (Wall, N.J.) three, put the Lady Royals back up one with 15:06 on the clock.
Webber quickly responded with yet another triple to put Stevens up 37-35, but Scranton would hold the Ducks without a field-goal for the next 6:19, outscoring Stevens 8-2 over that span to open up a four-point edge. Webber finally ended the Ducks' drought with her fourth three of the night, bringing the Ducks within one before an O'Connor free-throw tied the game for the fifth time.
Still knotted at 4:39, Gage connected on back-to-back jumpers to give Scranton a four-point lead before a King basket made it 51-45 with just 2:30 to go.
On the next Stevens possession, Benjamin would find a crease in the Lady Royals defense, laying it in for two to cut the lead to four with just under two minutes to play, before the Ducks defense forced a turnover with a chance to further slice into the deficit.
Needing a stop to slow the Stevens momentum, Scranton got just that, nabbing their 17th steal of the game, while forcing the Ducks 23rd turnover before a King jumper put the Lady Royals back-up six – a lead they would not relinquish.
The Ducks, who shot just 21.7 percent (5-for-23) in the second half and 30.6 percent (15-for-49) for the game, will look to rebound on Sunday, December 5 in a non-conference match-up with the City College of New York.