BETHLEHEM, Pa. – It was another tense ending that came down to a single point, but this time The University of Scranton women's basketball team came out on top to secure the coveted top seed in the Landmark Conference playoffs.
The Lady Royals avenged their only conference loss by holding off Moravian, 70-69, on Wednesday night Johnston Hall. Scranton (21-3, 12-1 Landmark) is now one game ahead of Catholic (18-5, 11-2) and two games ahead of Moravian (19-5, 10-3). The Lady Royals hold the tie-breaker over Catholic after sweeping the season series from the Cardinals.
Scranton will host a Landmark Conference semifinal on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in the Long Center against either Catholic or Moravian at a time to be determined. This is the first time Scranton has been the top seed in the Landmark playoffs since 2008-09, when they won the conference title.
Wednesday night's win was similar to the first regular season meeting when Moravian made two free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining for a 66-65 victory. This time, Scranton built a four-point lead with six seconds to play, and when the Greyhounds made a 3-pointer just before the buzzer, the Lady Royals were able to inbound the ball as time expired for the win.
Junior forward Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) led Scranton with 18 points, freshman forward Sarah Payonk (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) had 17 points, and fellow freshman forward Alexix Roman (Hawley, Pa./Wallenpaupack) added 12 points in the win.
It was Payonk's two free throws with six seconds left that sealed the victory, but there was a lot that happened to lead up to that point. Scranton built a 15-point lead midway when Roman converted a three-point play for a 27-12 advantage with 10 minutes to play in the first half.
But the Greyhounds finished the half on a 12-3 run to cut the Scranton lead to 34-30 at halftime. Roman had all 12 of her points in the first half for the Lady Royals.
Moravian kept the momentum early in the second half, using an 11-0 run early in the second half to build a 44-39 lead with 16:07 to play. The Greyhounds still led by four with 10:34 remaining when the Lady Royals went on an 11-2 run – including six points from Payonk – to regain control at 58-53 with 6:53 to play.
Scranton stretched the lead to eight at 65-57 with 2:10 to play when sophomore guard Jaclyn Gantz (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) canned her only 3-point attempt of the night.
But much like they did in the first meeting, the Greyhounds fought back in the last two minutes, going on a 9-3 run to pull within 68-66 with 56 seconds left. They then forced a Scranton turnover, but junior guard Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) made a steal and Payonk was fouled with six seconds. She made both free throws to put the game away and secure the no. 1 seed in next week's conference playoffs.
Junior guard Lindsay Fluehr (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy) made a pair of critical second-half 3-pointers to go along with 10 rebounds and three steals for Scranton. Payonk added eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block, Roman had seven rebounds and senior guard Alison Sweeney (Wall, N.J./St. Rose) added eight point.
Scranton shot 42.4 percent (25-for-59) from the field, including 3-for-9 from 3-point range, and made 17 of 20 free throws and dominated the boards, 44-26. The Lady Royals committed 24 turnovers, their second-highest total of the season, but had 12 steals.
Moravian was led by senior guard Katie O'Rourke (Palmyra, Pa./Palmyra), who scored a game-high 23 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and four steals. The Greyhounds shot 39.7 percent (23-for-58), including 8-for-18 from 3-point range, while making 15 of 19 free throws. They committed 18 turnovers while making 14 steals and blocking 14 shots.
The Lady Royals will wrap up the regular season when they hold Senior Day on Saturday, Feb. 22, when they host Goucher at 4 p.m. in the Long Center. Prior to the game, they will honor their seniors as well the presentation of the Dr. Harold Davis Award, which is annually given to the Lady Royals' most valuable senior.
--LADY ROYALS--