JANUARY 16, 2016
LADY MONARCHS OUTSCORE EAGLES 39-28 IN SECOND HALF TO WIN 63-52
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College women's basketball team outscored the visiting Eagles of Eastern University 39-28 in the second half to win 63-52 on Saturday afternoon at Scandlon Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre.
King's improve to 9-5 overall and 3-1 in conference play with the win. Eastern falls to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom with the loss.
King's scored the first eight points of the game and on a free throw from Alexis Steeber, two jumpers from Jennifer Fabian and a three-pointer by Kasey Seitz. After an Eastern bucket Fabian knocked down a three to increase the lead to 11-2, and then scored the Lady Monarchs final points of the quarter on two free throws to give King's a 13-5 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Eagles opened up the second quarter on a 12-6 run to close the deficit to 19-17 with 5:11 left. After the teams traded baskets Amanda Riiff tied the game up for Eastern on her third three-pointer of the quarter. The Eagle then took a 24-22 lead with 1:55 left in the half on two Regie Robinson free throws. The Monarchs came up with a big play right before the half ended as Kayla Feairheller jumped in front of a Riiff pass with three seconds left and got to the basket for a layup to tie the game up at 24 just before the clock expired to end the half.
Eastern gained their biggest lead of the game in the first minute of the third quarter when Taylor Price and Emily McPeak scored on layups to give the Eagles a four-point advantage. A Steeber layup and Fabian free throw cut the deficit to one. After another layup by the Eagles Tara Zdancewicz hit a jumper and then Sara Krupinski knocked down one of two free throws to tie the game at 30 with 3:53 left in the quarter. After forcing a turnover Fabian knocked down a three and then scored on a fastbreak layup to give King's a five point lead. Zdancewicz gave King's a 38-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter when she scored on a layup and then knocked down one of two free throws.
Zdancewicz opened up the scoring in the final quarter with a steal and a layup. After three points from Robinson on a jumper and a free throw Zdancewicz knocked down another jumper to give King's a 42-35 lead with 8:07 left. She then scored her ninth straight point for the Lady Monarchs when she knocked down another jumper with 6:56 left to give King's a 44-36 lead. The teams traded baskets until back-to-back layups from Olivia Hoffman and Rachael DeTore gave King's a 52-41 lead with 3:51 left to play.
Eastern was able to get the deficit down to seven points at 54-47 after a three-pointer by Riiff but King's responded with strong defense and layups by Krupinski and Zdancewicz to bring the lead back to 11 at 58-47 with 1:24 left. Eastern was forced to foul the rest of the way and the Lady Monarchs knocked down five of six free throws to end the game.
King's was led by Jennifer Fabian who recorded her seventh double-double of the year with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Tara Zdancewicz equaled her career-high in points with 15 and Olivia Hoffman equaled a season-high 15 rebounds and had a career-high seven blocks. Rachael DeTore scored eight points and Sara Krupinski had a career-high nine rebounds.
The Lady Monarchs shot 34.8 (24-69) percent from the field and outrebounded the Eagles 56-48 including 25 on the offensive boards. King's held Eastern to 15 points under their season average thanks to a stingy defense that only allowed the Eagles to hit 26.8 (19-71) percent of their shot from the field and 27.8 (5-18) percent from beyond the three-point line.
Regie Robinson led the Eagles with 16 points and 18 rebounds while Amanda Riiff came off the bench to score 16 points. King's held Eastern's leading scorer, rebounder, and shot blocker Emily Lavin to three points, three rebounds, and no blocks.
King's will be in action again on Monday when they travel to Williamsport to face Lycoming College in their final non-conference game of the year at Lamade Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m.