NOVEMBER 15, 2016

LADY MONARCHS FALL TO NEUMANN 61-45 IN SEASON OPENER

WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College women's basketball team was defeated by visiting Neumann University in the season opener for both teams on Tuesday night at McGrane Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre.

The Lady Monarchs suffered from a slow start in which they shot just 15.0 (3-20) percent in the first quarter. The Knights scored the first eight points of the game before Alexis Steeber scored on a putback layup with 5:05 left in the quarter. Back-to-back layups from Kayla Feairheller and Kayla Dillinger closed the gap to 11-7 but a jumper by Lauren Legler gave Neumann a 13-7 lead after the first quarter.

Steeber opened up the scoring in the second with a driving layup to cut the lead to four. The Knights responded with a jumper by Legler and one of two free throws by AAliya Hayes to bring to lead up to seven points with 7:54 left. After a Rebecca Prociak fast break layup with 5:40 left in the half cut the lead to 18-13 Neumann hit back-to-back threes to bring the lead up to 11 points at 24-13 with 4:41 left in the half. The Monarchs cut the lead down to seven on layups by Prociak and Hoffman but the Knights responded with a 6-0 run to end the half with a 30-17 advantage.

The teams traded baskets the first five minutes of the second half until the Knights got a putback with 4:52 left to take a 38-23 lead. Two layups and a free throw by Prociak cut the lead down to 10 points with 3:22 left. After trading baskets the Knight sank two free throws 30 seconds left in the quarter to take a 45-33 lead.

Shae Grim hit a jumper to bring the lead back to 10 to open the scoring in the fourth quarter but a 10-0 run over the course of 4:33 gave the Knights a 20 point cushion. Neumann was able to increase the lead to 21 points on a couple occasions but the Monarchs fought until the final whistle as Olivia Hoffman scored the final eight points of the game for the Monarchs to bring the final deficit to 16 points.   

Olivia Hoffman led the Monarchs with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks. Rebecca Prociak had 11 points and seven boards in her collegiate debut while Alexis Steeber just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. King's shot 28.8 (19-66) from the field and was 0-10 from behind the arch. The team was 58.3% (7-12) from the line.

A highlight of the night for King's was their post presence as they outscored the Knights 34-26 in the paint and held a slim rebounding advantage 48-47. As a team the Monarchs blocked seven shots. King's held a 10-8 advantage in second chance points and 6-4 in fast break points.

Neumann received double-doubles from Mariah Maciejewski with 12 points and 11 rebounds and AAliya Hayes with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Nafisa Saunders scored 14 points and Lauren Legler added 11. The Knights shot 37.1 (23-62) percent from the field and 65.0 (13-20) from the line.  

The Lady Monarchs will be back in action on Saturday when they face Lycoming College at 1:00 p.m. in the first round of the Terry Greene Tip-Off Classic at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster.