The University of Scranton women's basketball team cut a big first-half deficit down to five early in the second half, but could not complete the comeback, falling to 13th-ranked Catholic University, 69-52, in the Long Center on Senior Night on Saturday.
Scranton (16-7, 8-4 Landmark) remains in third place with two games to play despite the loss. The Lady Royals, who clinched a playoff berth earlier this week, have a one-game lead on Juniata and trail Catholic (22-1, 11-1 Landmark) and Moravian by three games, meaning they can finish no better than third.
Catholic scored the first seven points of the game and pushed the lead to 18 with seven minutes to go in the first half. But the Lady Royals used an 11-1 run over the final 4:19 of the first half to go into the locker room trailing 32-25.
Boosted by a pair of early second-half 3-pointers from senior forward Erin Boggan (Danbury, Conn./Danbury), Scranton pulled within 37-32 four minutes into the second half. But the Cardinals responded with a 26-5 run to put 69-the game away.
The Cardinals shot 52.2 percent (12-for-23) in the second half while holding Scranton to 8-for-32 (25 percent) from the field, including just 3-for-19 (15.8 percent) from inside the 3-point arc.
Freshman guard Noelle Alicea (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) led Scranton with 11 points. Boggan finished with 10 points and eight assists and sophomore guard Stephanie Keyes (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Archbishop Wood) added eight.
Scranton shot 25.4 percent (16-for-63) for the game, including 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) from 3-point range. The Lady Royals connected on 15 of 18 free throws. They won the rebounding battle, 45-39, but committed 21 turnovers.
Junior guard Emily Grabiak (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial) led Catholic with 17 points, eight assists and four steals. Senior guard Jenny McGann (York, Pa./York Catholic) added 15 points and four steals, and senior guard Jill Woerner (Providence, R.I./St. Mary's Bayview) had 12 points.
The Cardinals shot 42.1 percent (24-for-57), including 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) from 3-point range. They connected on 16 of 28 free throws and committed 15 turnovers.
Prior to tip-off, the Lady Royals honored six seniors – Katherine Torto (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central), Christina Hiltunen (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney), Tayler Pallotta (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore), Shernai Bentley (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley), KC Hawkes (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central) and Boggan.
Head coach Mike Strong also presented the Dr. Harold Davis Award to Torto and Boggan. The Davis Award annually recognizes the most valuable senior.
The Lady Royals are back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 13, when they host Moravian in the Long Center at 7 p.m.
--LADY ROYALS--