DECEMBER 6, 2016

LYCOMING WOMEN RALLY TO DOWN KING'S 52-49

WILKES-BARRE — Heading into the fourth quarter of its non-conference women's basketball game at King's College Tuesday night, Lycoming College led just twice in the contest. But in the all-important fourth quarter the Warriors rallied and took the lead when it mattered most to rally for a 52-49 victory in Scandlon Gym.

With the win, Lycoming improved to 6-2 on the year while King's fell to 1-7.

King's jumped to a 7-2 lead following a thee-pointer by Kayla Feairheller with 7:24 left in the first quarter. After the Warriors cut the lead to 11-8, a 4-0 King's surge pushed the score to 15-8 after a short jumper by Rebecca Prociak with 1:32 on the clock. Lycoming used a 6-0 run to trim the lead to 15-14 at the horn on a driving lay-up by Akilah McFadden at the 0:07 mark.

The Warriors took their first lead of the game early in the second quarter when Kayla Kline hit on a jumper to put Lycoming ahead 16-15. But King's immediately countered with back-to-back jumpers by Alexis Steeber and Prociak to give the Lady Monarchs a 21-16 advantage with 7:40 left in the opening half.

Lycoming battled back and took its second lead at 24-23 on a Rebecca Painter three-pointer with 4:04 left. But King's again responded quickly, this time with a 7-0 run thanks to inside baskets by Prociak and Feairheller, and a three-pointer from Steeber to put the Lady Monarchs on top 30-24 with 2:06 to go in the quarter. Lycoming would close to 30-26 on a McFadden lay-up with 0:43 remaining in the half.

In the third quarter Lycoming continued to chip away and tied the score at 32-32 on a three-pointer by Haley Sipple with 4:52  left in the period, but King's countered with a 6-0 run to move ahead 38-32 with 1:27 on the clock. Lycoming, however, used a lay-up by Nicole Calella and one of two free throws from Kayla Kline to close to within 38-35 heading into the final frame.

King's, however, moved ahead 41-35 after an Erin Schmidt three-pointer but Lycoming eventually fought back to tie the score at 45-45 on one-of-two free throws by Calella. King's moved ahead 47-45 after a pair of Prociak foul shots with 3:20 left, but Lycoming took a lead it would never relinquish when McFadden canned a three-pointer with 2:31 remaining to put the Warriors on top 48-47, just its third time leading in the game. After a King's miss, Lycoming used a pair of free throws by Kline to push the lead to 50-47 with 0:29 to go.

After King's closed to within 50-49 after two foul shots from Prociak with 0:22 on the clock, the Lady Monarchs chose to foul and McFadden made one-of-two free throws to give Lycoming a 51-49 lead with 0:13 remaining. With a chance to tie the game or take the lead, King's was whistled for a critical offensive foul with 0:09 left to play and McFadden again made just one-of-two foul shots to up the Warrior lead to 52-49 with 0:04 left.

Needing a three-pointer to send the game to overtime, King's passed the ball beyond the half-court line but was unable to get off a shot in time as the Warriors walked away with the victory.

King's was paced by Feairheller with 15 points and four rebounds while Prociak added 14 points and 13 boards. Olivia Hoffman followed with four points, 11 rebounds, and nine blocked shots on the night. Her blocks total is the second highest in the nation this season and also moved her to within 14 of King's career mark of 207 set by Heather Medashefski from 1996-1999.   Shae Grim also chipped in with four points.  

Lycoming was able to survive a brutal night at the foul line, converting just 38.5 (10-26) percent of their free throws. The Warriors were led by was led by McFadden with 20 points and three assists while Shelby Mueller added 12 points and 14 rebounds. But the Warriors were able to make up ground by forcing 25 King's turnovers while committing just 13 in the game.

King's will travel to face Gwynedd-Mercy University Thursday at 7:00 p.m.