TOWSON, Md.—No Megan Kopecki? No problem.
With Kopecki nursing a minor injury after last night's 76-60 victory at Catholic University, The University of Scranton played without her for the first time in four years and cruised to a 71-48 victory over Goucher College in the second of a four-game Landmark Conference road trip Saturday evening at the Decker Sports and Recreation Center.
First-year guards Katie Cunningham (Garden City, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) and Alison Sweeney (Wall, N.J./Saint Rose) gave veteran Lady Royal head coach Mike Strong a glimpse of the future by scoring 16 and 10 points, respectively, as Scranton improved to 12-5 overall and remained tied with Moravian College for first place in the Landmark Conference with a 6-1 record. Scranton also received 12 points and six rebounds from senior guard Jennifer King (Taylor, Pa./Riverside) in 21 minutes of action.
Freshman forward Taquasia Lambert (Brooklyn, N.Y./Patapsco-Md.) was the Gophers' best bet with 11 points. The loss drops Goucher to 2-13 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
The Lady Royals broke it open in the first half as Cunningham connected on three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points as Scranton surge to a 32-19 lead by intermission. Things started poorly for the Gophers—shooting less than 21 percent from the field in the first half—and didn't get much better after intermission. They made just 9 of 32 field goal attempts (28.1 percent) in the second half to finish 24.2 percent for the game. They also committed 22 turnovers, which Scranton converted into 17 points.
Cunningham and Sweeney weren't the only role players to step to the forefront tonight. Sophomore forward Shernai Bentley (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley), making her third consecutive start in place of injured senior Courtney Roselle (Cedar Grove, N.J./Mount St. Dominic Academy), pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds and scored six points and sophomore forward Tayler Pallotta (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore) finished with nine points and seven rebounds.
The Lady Royals found their shooting stroke in the second half, connecting on nearly 49 percent of their attempts to offset a 12-for-35 effort (34.3 percent) in the opening 20 minutes of play. Scranton also attempted a season-high 32 3-point field goals and made 10.
Like Kopecki, junior forward Sarah Gage (Ledgewood, N.J./Roxbury) missed her first game of the season for the Lady Royals after getting nicked up in last night's win at Catholic.
Sandwiched between next weekend's road trip to the Merchant Marine Academy on Friday, January 28, and Drew University on Saturday, January 29, is Scranton's final non-conference game of the season this Wednesday, January 26, against the Falcons of Messiah College at 7:00 p.m. at the Long Center.
News & Notes: Cunningham's 16-point effort was a season-high, eclipsing her previous high of 11 points in a 71-62 loss to William Paterson on November 20 in the opening round of the Starters Pub Tip-Off Tournament at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pennsylvania…Lady Royals are now 8-0 lifetime against Goucher College…Strong picked up career win number 747, which is 10 shy of tying former St. John Fisher head coach Phil Kahler as the all-time leader in NCAA Division III women's basketball history.
Newspaper Box Score
SCRANTON 71, GOUCHER 48
SCRANTON (12-5/6-1 Landmark)
Katie Cunningham 5-10 2-3 16; Jennifer King 4-7 0-0 12; Alison Sweeney 4-12 1-2 10; Tayler Pallotta 4-6 1-2 9; Shernai Bentley 3-9 0-3 6; Brianna Reigstad 2-3 0-0 5; Sidney Jaques 1-6 2-5 4; Colleen McLane 2-4 0-0 4; Christina Hiltunen 1-3 1-2 3; Katie Sherry 1-4 0-1 2; Katherine Torto 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 27-66 7-18 71.
GOUCHER (2-13/2-5 Landmark)
Taquasia Lambert 4-11 3-5 11; Leia Roberts-Brown 2-6 4-4 8; Sharnell Huff 3-14 1-2 7; Alexa Gaines 1-2 3-5 6; Precious Kollock 2-10 1-1 6; Elizabeth von Ende 1-8 0-2 3; Jasmine Johnson 1-5 1-3 3; Ebony Winn 1-3 0-0 2; Hannah Brown 1-1 0-0 2; Amy Smith 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 16-66 13-22 48.
The University of Scranton.... 32 39 - 71
Goucher....................... 19 29 - 48
3-point goals--The University of Scranton 10-32 (Jennifer King 4-7; Katie Cunningham 4-9; Brianna Reigstad 1-1; Alison Sweeney 1-8; Colleen McLane 0-2; Christina Hiltunen 0-1; Katherine Torto 0-2; Sidney Jaques 0-2), Goucher 3-22 (Precious Kollock 1-3; Elizabeth von Ende 1-4; Alexa Gaines 1-1; Ebony Winn 0-1; Amy Smith 0-4; Sharnell Huff 0-7; Leia Roberts-Brown 0-2). Fouled out--The University of Scranton-None, Goucher-None. Rebounds--The University of Scranton 50 (Shernai Bentley 11), Goucher 51 (Jasmine Johnson 6; Leia Roberts-Brown 6; Taquasia Lambert 6). Assists—The University of Scranton 17 (Katie Cunningham 4), Goucher 10 (Amy Smith 3). Total fouls--The University of Scranton 17, Goucher 15. Technical fouls--The
University of Scranton-None, Goucher-None. A-245