HOBOKEN, N.J.—Senior guard Jennifer King (Taylor, Pa./Riverside) and junior forward Sarah Gage (Ledgewood, N.J./Roxbury) each hit two key baskets down the stretch to give The University of Scranton enough of a cushion to hold off previously-unbeaten Stevens Institute of Technology, 55-49, Wednesday evening at Canavan Arena.
King finished with 13 points, senior guard Colleen McLane (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) tied her career-high with 10 points, and senior guard Megan Kopecki (Millington, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional) chipped in 10 points as the Lady Royals won their second straight game to improve to 3-2 on the season.
Junior forward Jillian Barrett (Philadelphia, Pa./Central) led the Ducks, now 3-1, with 20 points and 14 rebounds and junior guard Victoria Webber (Silver Spring, Md./Ocean Township) added 14 points.
Gage, who finished with eight points and six rebounds, ignited the game-winning rally by scoring back-to-back baskets to break a 45-45 tie with 5:34 remaining to give Scranton a four-point lead. King then buried back-to-back jump shots at the 2:30 and 1:14 marks to extend the Lady Royals' lead to six. The Ducks did cut the lead down to four with 22 seconds remaining before McLane drained two free throws to set the final score.
Defensively, the Lady Royals pressured the Ducks into committing 23 turnovers and held them to just 30.6 percent shooting from the field (15 of 49).
Scranton will open its Landmark Conference schedule this Saturday, December 4, against defending champion Moravian College at 4:00 p.m. in Johnston Hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
News & Notes: Scranton is now 6-0 in the all-time series with Stevens Institute…McLane tied her previous-high of 10 points against Catholic University on January 17, 2009…Scranton trailed 31-28 at intermission…The Lady Royal bench out-scored the Ducks' reserves, 14-7…the game was tied six times and there were five lead changes…Stevens Institute shot only 21.7 percent (5 of 23) from the field in the second half.
Newspaper Box Score
SCRANTON 55, STEVENS 49
SCRANTON (3-2)Jennifer King 6-11 0-1 13; Megan Kopecki 4-14 1-3 10; Colleen McLane 3-6 3-4 10; Sarah Gage 4-5 0-0 8; Katie Cunningham 3-7 1-1 7; Alison Sweeney 1-4 0-0 3; Tayler Pallotta 1-4 0-0 2; Shernai Bentley 1-3 0-0 2; KC Hawkes 0-2 0-0 0; Katherine Torto 0-0 0-0 0; Courtney Roselle 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 5-9 55.
STEVENS (3-1)
Jillian Barrett 7-14 4-5 20; Victoria Webber 5-13 0-0 14; Avis Benjamin 1-2 4-4 6; Victoria O'Connor 1-4 1-2 3; Molly Spadaro 1-3 0-0 3; Dawn Garcia 0-9 2-2 2; Isaura Guzman 0-3 1-2 1; Lisa Tessitore 0-0 0-0 0; Jen Thompson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-49 12-15 49.
The University of Scranton.... 28 27 - 55
Stevens....................... 31 18 - 49
3-point goals--The University of Scranton 4-18 (Colleen McLane 1-3; Megan Kopecki 1-1; Jennifer King 1-6; Alison Sweeney 1-3; Courtney Roselle 0-1; Katie Cunningham 0-4), Stevens 7-20 (Victoria Webber 4-6; Jillian Barrett 2-3; Molly Spadaro 1-3; Dawn Garcia 0-4; Isaura Guzman 0-3; Jen Thompson 0-1). Fouled out--The University of Scranton-None, Stevens-Molly Spadaro. Rebounds--The University of Scranton 36 (Sarah Gage 6; Megan Kopecki 6), Stevens 39 (Jillian Barrett 14). Assists--The University of Scranton 14 (Colleen McLane 4; Megan Kopecki 4), Stevens 10 (Dawn Garcia 5). Total fouls--The University of Scranton 18, Stevens 13. Technical fouls—The University of Scranton-None, Stevens-None. A-150