Lady Royals Lock Up #3 Seed In Landmark Tourney With 67-35 Win At Goucher; Gantz Finishes With Career High 16 Points

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TOWSON, Md.—The University of Scranton women's basketball team wrapped up the number three seed in the upcoming Landmark Conference tournament with a 67-35 victory over Goucher College at the Decker Sports & Recreation Center Saturday evening.

Freshman guard Jaclyn Gantz (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) came off the bench and scored a career high 16 points and sophomore forward Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) added 12 as the Lady Royals won their second straight to improve to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in the conference.  

Scranton will play the Moravian College on the road this Wednesday, February 20, in one of two Landmark semifinal games.  Juniata College will play at top-seeded Catholic University in the other match-up.

Junior guard Sharnell Huff (Bowie, Md./Bowie) led the Gophers, now 6-18 overall and 2-12 in the conference, with 14 points.

Gantz connected on 6 of 7 shots from the field to eclipse her previous high of 14 points in an 82-54 win at Susquehanna on February 2.  She made all three of her field goal attempts and finished with 9 points in 10 minutes as Scranton opened up a 35-19 halftime lead and never looked back.

For the game, the Lady Royal bench out-scored the Gopher reserves, 40-11.  Scranton also held a 44-31 advantage in rebounding and turned 25 Goucher turnovers into 20 points.

The Lady Royals, who shot over 46 percent from the field in the second half, also received six points apiece from junior guard Alison Sweeney (Wall, NJ/Saint Rose), sophomore guard Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara), and freshman guard Noelle Alicea (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East).

With a comfortable lead, veteran Scranton head coach Mike Strong was able to rest most of his starters for Wednesday's game.  Only two starters—Mesaris and sophomore guard Lindsay Fluehr (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy)—played more than 20 minutes and all 15 players on the roster got in the game.