The University of Scranton women's basketball team had revenge on its mind when Catholic University came to the Long Center on Saturday afternoon in the final game of the regular season. The Lady Royals got what they were looking for in the form of a 76-49 victory on Wall of Fame day in the John Long Center.
The Lady Royals (23-2, 15-1 Landmark) avenged their only conference loss this season and will head into next week's Landmark Conference playoffs riding an eight-game winning streak. They will host Susquehanna in a semifinal on Wednesday in the John Long Center at a time to be announced.
Having lost to the Cardinals, 46-42, on Jan. 17 in Washington, D.C., Scranton wanted to erase that memory despite Saturday's game having no effect on the Lady Royals' playoff standing. They proved right from the start that they were ready, scoring the game's first seven points and racing to a 28-8 lead with 9:08 left in the first half.
Senior forward Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) led Scranton with 23 points, junior guard Noelle Alicea (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) had 17 points, her fourth straight game in double figures and senior guard Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) had 16. Senior guard Lindsay Fluehr (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy) narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds before exiting the game with five minutes left.
Scranton did the majority of its damage from beyond the 3-point arc, going 12-for-23, the most 3-pointers the team has made this season and the most since the Lady Royals made 12 against Merchant Marine on Dec. 14, 2013.
DiSciascio did the most damage from beyond the arc, making four of five to improve to 45.6 percent on the season. She entered the game ranked 11th in the country in 3-point percentage. Alicea and Fluehr were both 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, and Mesaris and junior guard Jaclyn Gantz (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) both made one.
The Lady Royals dominated the glass, winning the rebounding battle, 42-33. They had 22 assists on 25 made field goals, helping to offset a season-high 20 turnovers. They forced 15 Catholic turnovers, but more importantly, held the Cardinals to just six assists on 16 made field goals.
Scranton shot 48.1 percent (25-for-52) from the field and mad 14 of 18 (77.8) from the free throw line.
Catholic (17-8, 11-5 Landmark) shot just 28.1 percent (16-for-57) from the field, including just one of 10 from 3-point range. They made 16 of 23 free throws. Sophomore guard Michelle DeSantis (Trumbull, Conn./Lauralton Hall) led the Cardinals with eight points.
Scranton will host Susquehanna in a Landmark Conference semifinal on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at a time to be announced. Catholic will be the No. 2 seed despite Saturday's loss and will host Elizabethtown in Wednesday's other semifinal. The winners will square off in the championship game on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the home site of the highest remaining seed.
--ROYALS--