JANUARY 9, 2017
KING'S WOMEN DOWN RAMAPO 57-46 AS FEAIRHELLER, HOFFMAN REACH CAREER MILESTONES
WILKES-BARRE — Senior guard Kayla Feairheller (Downingtown/Dowingtown West) scored her 1,000th career point and junior center Olivia Hoffman (Plymouth/Wyoming Valley West) broke the school record for career blocked shots as the King's College women's basketball team posted a 57-46 non-conference victory over visiting Ramapo College Monday night in Scandlon Gymnasium.
With the win King's improved to 2-10 and snapped an eight-game losing streak while Ramapo slipped to 6-8.
Feairheller was the first to reach her milestone when she scored on a driving lay-up with 1:59 left in the first quarter to put the Lady Monarchs on top 10-7, She then added a three-pointer moments later to give King's a 13-7 lead with 1:34 remaining. But Ramapo battled back in the second quarter and eventually took a 17-15 lead with 7:15 left in the half on a three-pointer by Shelby Ringer. King's later tied the game at 22-22 with 3:00 on the clock after a short jumper from Alexis Steeber, but the Roadrunners went on a 5-0 spurt to build a 27-22 lead on a Bridget Buckalew three-pointer. The Lady Monarchs closed to within 27-24 at the half on Rebecca Prociak's inside basket at the 0:03 mark.
King's came out of the locker room for the third quarter and immediately went to work. A Prociak jumper was followed by a bucket from Feairheller and a three-pointer by Kasey Seitz to put the Lady Monarchs on top 31-27. After a Ramapo time out, the Roadrunners used a Jessica Repasy lay-up to cut the score to 31-29. But King's responded with four straight points from Steeber and another three-pointer by Feairheller to push the Lady Monarch lead to 38-30 with 6:36 remaining in the third quarter.
Hoffman then posted her school-record 208th career blocked shot with 5:38 on the clock, then immediately added her 209th following an offensive rebound seconds later. King's would take a double-digit lead when Steeber canned a three-pointer with 5:04 on the clock to push the score to 41-30. The Roadrunners would end the period on a 5-1 spurt to close to within 42-35 heading into the final quarter.
Ramapo continued to battle and eventually trimmed the lead to 46-45 on a driving lay-up by Jina Crawford with 6:39 left in the contest. But two foul shots from Prociak, an inside basket by Steeber, and a short jumper from Hoffman put King's ahead 52-45 with 3:40 on the clock. After two Ramapo misses, the Lady Monarchs took advantage with two Prociak free throws, one-of-two foul shots from both Steeber and Kayla Dillinger as King's built its biggest lead of the game at 57-45 with 1:14 remaining. During its decisive fourth-quarter run, King's held Ramapo without a field goal for the final 6:38 of the game.
Steeber topped King's with her first collegiate double-double, posting 19 points and 10 rebounds while Feairheller followed with 15 points to bring her career total to 1,011 points. Prociak added 11 points and six rebounds. Hoffman, played only five minutes in the first half after picking up three fouls, finished with two points, eight rebounds, and three blocks, and up her school-record total to 210 blocked shots. Hoffman, who is only a junior, surpassed the previous record of 207 blocks set by former King's All-American Heather Medashefski from 1996-1999.
Ramapo was paced by Crawford with 10 points while Kellie Lane added nine.
King's will resume Freedom Conference play Wednesday night when both King's women and men's teams host FDU-Forham in Scandlon Gym. The women tip off at 6:00 PM with the men to follow at 8:00 PM.