The University of Scranton women's basketball team saw its 13-game winning streak come to an end Wednesday night as Moravian College made two free throws in the final second to stun the Lady Royals, 66-65, in the Long Center.
Junior Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) led Scranton with a game-high 26 points to go along with seven rebounds. Senior guard Alison Sweeney (Wall, N.J./St. Rose) had 13 points and eight rebounds, and junior guard Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) and freshman forward Sarah Payonk (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) each had 10 points for Scranton (15-3, 7-1 Landmark).
The Lady Royals now hold a half-game lead in the Landmark Conference standings, ahead of Moravian (15-3, 6-1) and Catholic (13-4, 6-1). Scranton entered the game ranked in a tie for 24th in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 and 25th in the D3hoops.com Top 25.
After a back-and-forth second half, Moravian held a three-point lead 44 seconds remaining. But Scranton answered with a jumper from Mesaris before forcing a turnover with 21 seconds remaining. Mesaris then got the ball underneath and was fouled, leading to a pair of free throws and a 63-62 lead with 17 seconds left.
The Lady Royals immediately forced another turnover, and junior guard Lindsay Fluehr (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy) buried two more free throws with 13 seconds left for a three-point lead.
On the ensuing possession, Moravian senior guard Katie O'Rourke (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra) was fouled and made two free throws to cut the Greyhounds deficit to one. Moravian then immediately fouled and when Scranton missed the free throw attempt, the Greyhounds gathered the rebound and raced down court, where O'Rourke was fouled on a layup attempt with 0.3 seconds remaining. She made both free throws to give Moravian the win.
O'Rourke finished with a team-high 20 points for Moravian.
Payonk added a career-high seven assists to go along with five rebounds and three steals in the loss. DiSciascio also had five rebounds, as did sophomore guard Noelle Alicea (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East).
Scranton finished the night 24-for-65 (36.9 percent) from the field, including 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from 3-point range. The Lady Royals won the rebounding battle, 41-34, but committed 21 turnovers. Scranton also made 12 of 17 free throws on the night.
Moravian was 24-for-54 (44.4 percent) from the field and 3-for-14 (21.4 percent) from 3-point range. The Greyhounds committed 22 turnovers, but had 10 blocked shots, including eight by senior forward Laura Jordan (Easton, Pa./Easton). They made 15 of 19 free throw attempts.
The Lady Royals are back in action on Saturday, Feb. 1, when they travel to Huntingdon, Pa. to take on Juniata at 4 p.m.
--LADY ROYALS--