WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Senior forward Katie Sherry (Havertown, Pa./Merion Mercy Academy) scored a career-high 10 points as the reserves helped lift The University of Scranton women's basketball team to a 79-65 victory over King's College in Scandlon Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Royals (2-1) received 30 points from their bench players, including 11 from sophomore guard Noelle Alicea (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East), seven from junior guard Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) and two from junior guard Stephanie Keyes (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Archbishop Wood). Sherry, Alicea and DiSciascio all played 20 minutes or more each, led by Alicea, who saw 28 minutes in the backcourt.
Junior forward Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) led the Lady Royals with 19 points and freshman forward Sarah Payonk (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) added 12 points in just 16 minutes of action due to foul trouble.
Scranton led by 10 at halftime, 40-30, behind nine points from senior guard Alison Sweeney (Wall, N.J./St. Rose), seven from DiSciascio and six from Sherry.
King's (2-3) cut the deficit to three at 59-56 with 10 minutes to play and the Scranton lead was just four with a little more than five minutes to play, but Scranton scored the last 10 points of the game to secure the victory.
The Lady Royals shot 46 percent (29-for-63) from the field, including 56.5 percent (13-for-23) in the second half. They made 19 of 21 free throws (90.5 percent) to offset just 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) from 3-point range.
Scranton won the battle of the boards, 40-34, led by 11 rebounds by junior guard Lindsay Fluehr (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy), who also had seven points and six assists. The Lady Royals forced 16 turnovers, including 12 steals, led by Sherry's career-high four and three by Alicea. Sweeney added four of the Lady Royals' six blocks.
King's shot 38.1 percent (24-for-63) from the field, including 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) from beyond the arc. The Lady Monarchs made nine of 14 free throws (64.3 percent). The Lady Monarchs received 12 points each from sophomore forward Jennifer Fabian (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) and freshman forward Jessica Feairheller (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown West).
During the week leading up to the game, the two teams collected donations and sold t-shirts as part of the Play 4 Gray fundraiser to benefit King's head coach Brian Donoghue, who was diagnosed with brain cancer this past summer.
Scranton returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 26, when it travels to Radnor, Pa. to take on Cabrini at 6 p.m. The Cavaliers are coached by former Lady Royals standout Kate (Pierangeli) Pearson.
--ROYALS--