NOVEMBER 20, 2015
KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL USES STRONG THIRD QUARTER TO DEFEAT HARTWICK 49-39
ONEONTA, N.Y. --- The King's College women's basketball team exploded in the third quarter after a slow start to defeat Hartwick College 49-39 on the first day of the Oneonta Holiday Inn Classic at Oneonta State University in Oneonta, N.Y. on Friday night.
The Lady Monarchs stay undefeated on the young season and improve to 3-0 with the win. The Hawks fall to 0-3.
King's, which got off to a slow start to begin the game, received layups by Olivia Hoffman and Cayle Spencer for their first four points but Hartwick responded to each basket with a bucket of their own. The Hawks took their first lead of the game when Jessica Bellai hit a free throw with 39 seconds left in the quarter but the Lady Monarchs responded with a Kasey Seitz three-pointer 16 seconds later to a take 7-5 lead to end the quarter.
In the second quarter Jennifer Fabian scored on King's first two offensive possessions but the Hawks were able to score on the other end of the floor to stay within two points. Hartwick scored the next five points of the game to take their largest lead of the game at 14-11 with 7:25 left in the half. The Lady Monarchs outscored the Hawks 9-4 the rest of the way to take a 20-18 halftime lead. King's shot just 30% (9-30) in the first half including 10% (1-10) from three-point range.
The Lady Monarchs came out of halftime very strong as Kayla Feairheller took over the first 3:30 scoring all eight of the team's points on two layups, a foul shot, and a three-pointer as King's extended their lead to 28-20 with 6:34 left. Fabian hit two free throws and a lay-up before Feairheller hit another three-pointer as the Lady Monarchs built their largest lead of the game 35-20 with 3:10 left. The Lady Monarchs outscored the Hawks 18-6 in the quarter to take a 38-24 lead into the fourth.
Hartwick began the quarter on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to six points with 5:54 left in the game. King's responded with a 6-2 run of their own to extend the lead back up to 10 with 1:38 left. The Lady Monarchs got a couple of defensive stops except for a Hawks three-pointer with 27 seconds left and converted three out of four free throw attempts to close out the game.
Jennifer Fabian led King's with her third double-double of the year scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Kayla Feairheller added 13 points and five rebounds while Olivia Hoffman recorded eight points, a season-high 15 rebounds, and three blocks. Kasey Seitz had five points and four assists.
The Lady Monarchs shot 29.0% (18-62) from the field, 12.0% (3-25) from three-point range, and 62.5% (10-16) from the free throw line. King's won the rebounding battle once again recording 48 rebounds to Hartwick's 43. The King's defense forced 16 turnovers while the Lady Monarchs only committed 14, and just five in the second half.
King's will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they will face host Oneonta State University at 3:00 p.m. The Red Dragons lost to Middlebury 60-38 in the second game of the night.