SCRANTON, Pa. - After a hard fought overtime win at Moravian on Wednesday night at Moravian, the fifth-ranked University of Scranton women's basketball team made quick work of visiting Juniata on Saturday in Landmark Conference action, as the Lady Royals rolled past the Eagles, 71-55 at the John Long Center.
With the win, Scranton remained unbeaten for the year, going to 21-0 overall and 12-0 in the Landmark Conference. Juniata dropped to 7-15 overall and 2-9 in the Landmark with the defeat.
In the opening quarter, Juniata remained within distance of the Lady Royals for the first six minutes, as a three-pointer cut a Scranton lead down to 11-9 with four minutes remaining in the period.
However, Scranton finished off the period on a scoring flurry, ending on an 11-0 run to go up 22-9 after one period of play.
The run continued for Scranton in the second quarter, as they opened up an insurmountable 30-12 lead with 6:23 left in the first half. From there, the closest Juniata got to the lead the rest of the quarter was 14 points (33-19) as the Lady Royals went into the locker room for intermission up, 38-22.
Juniata could not get much closer to the 16-point lead Scranton built up in the first half throughout the third and fourth quarters, as Scranton rolled over the final 20 minutes of action to notch their 16th win in the last 17 games by double-digits.
In the win, junior forward Alexix Roman (Hawley, Pa./Wallenpaupack) led the way once again for the Lady Royals, scoring a game-high 19 points, while snatching eight rebounds. It marked the 15th time Roman has led Scranton in scoring in a contest on the season and the 20th time in 21 games she scored in double figures.
Elsewhere, senior guard Jaclyn Gantz (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) added 14 points (a season-high), while junior forward Sarah Payonk (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) went into double-figures yet again with 13 points, adding six assists.
The University of Scranton women's basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, as they take on Susquehanna in another Landmark Conference showdown inside the John Long Center. Tip-off is set fo 7 p.m.
--LADY ROYALS--