FEBRUARY 17, 2016
OLIVIA HOFFMAN BREAKS SCHOOL RECORD FOR BLOCKS IN A SEASON
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College women's basketball was unable to recover from a slow start in a 77-69 loss to visiting Delaware Valley University on Wednesday night at Scandlon Gymnasium. Olivia Hoffman entered the game tied with the single season blocks record. She broke the tie when she swatted away a jumper with 40 seconds left in the second quarter.
Delaware Valley improves to 13-11 overall and 9-4 in conference play while King's drops to 11-13 overall and 4-9 in the conference.
The visiting Aggies jumped out to a 10-0 lead just three minutes into the game thanks to five straight layups to begin the game. The Monarchs got on the board when Jennifer Fabian grabbed an offensive rebound and knocked down a jumper. The Aggies were able to increase the lead to 16-4 after a Sam Foy layup with 4:45 left in the first quarter. King's responded with a Olivia Hoffman jumper, and back-to-back three-pointers from Fabian and Cayle Spencer to cut the Aggie lead to 16-12 with 2:46 left. The Aggies responded with a bucket and a three to bring the lead back up to nine points. After another jumper from Hoffman Delaware Valley got a three-pointer from Danielle Skedzielewski to give Delaware Valley a 24-14 lead after the first quarter.
King's opened the second quarter with a three-pointer from Spencer and layup from Alexis Steeber. Delaware Valley responded with a three-pointer and jumper of their own to bring the lead back up to 10 points. After a couple minutes of back-and-forth play Kelsey Kilpatrick knocked down a trey to give the Aggies a 39-26 lead with 5:04 left in the half. The Aggies gained their largest lead of the first half with 3:38 left when Kilpatrick knocked down two free throws to give Delaware Valley a 45-29 lead. The Monarchs got layups from Tara Zdancewicz and Hoffman to end the half with the score 47-36.
Delaware Valley began the second half on an 8-2 run to take their largest lead of the game 55-38 with 7:28 left in the quarter. The Lady Monarchs responded with a three-pointer from Fabian and a bucket from Hoffman to bring King's within 12 points. After two made free throws by the Aggies Fabian knocked down a jumper, hit two free throws and then knocked down one of two shot from the line to cut the deficit to 57-48 with 4:35 left in the quarter. Sara Krupinski knocked down two foul shots to bring King's within seven but Skedzielewski knocked down a three right before the quarter ended to give the Aggies a 60-50 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
The Aggies scored the first six points of the fourth to extend their lead up to 13 before King's responded with back-to-back fast break layups to bring the score to 64-55 with 6:49 left. After an Eireann Anastasi four-point play Zdancewicz knocked down two mid-range jumpers to bring King's back to a nine-point deficit. Delaware Valley was able to extend the lead to 73-61 with 3:11 left. King's was able to get into the bonus situation and after a Rachael DeTore bucket got to the line and knocked down four consecutive free throws on their next two possessions to get within six points at 73-67 but that was as close as they were able to get.
Senior Jennifer Fabian led King's with a double-double recording 19 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow senior Tara Zdancewicz just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. The third senior Sara Krupinski finished with six points and seven assists. Olivia Hoffman had 12 points, eight rebounds, and six blocks which increased her total to 92 for the season. King's shot 39.4 (26-66) percent from the field and out rebounded the Aggies 45-38. As a team the Lady Monarchs blocked nine shot to increase their season total to 158, a school record they had previously broken in their last game.
Delaware Valley was led by Eireann Anastasi, the conference's leading scorer, with 26 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists. Sam Foy added 16 points, Danielle Skedzielewski had 14 points and nine rebounds, while Brianna Rivello recorded 10 points and eight rebounds. The Aggies shot 43.1 (28-65) percent from the floor.
King's will conclude the season on Saturday when they travel down the street to face Wilkes University at 1:00 p.m. in the Marts Center. The Lady Monarchs defeated the Colonels 77-47 back on January 27th.