JANUARY 4, 2016

KING'S WOMEN DROP FREEDOM CONFERENCE OPENER AT DELAWARE VALLEY, 47-43

DOYLESTOWN -- The host Delaware Valley University women's basketball team outscored visiting King's College 10-6 over the final 6:27 of play to post a back-and-forth 47-43 victory in the Freedom Conference opener for both teams Wednesday night in Doylestown.

With the win, Delaware Valley improved to 5-7 while King's slipped to 1-9. It marked King's first game since December 8.

King's jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead after 5:46 on the strength of six points from Alexis Steeber. The Lady Monarchs took a 17-8 lead at the end of the first quarter following a three-pointer by Kasey Seitz with 0:26 on the clock.

The Lady Monarchs built a 22-13 advantage after a Shea Grim three-pointer with 5:54 left in the half but Delaware Valley went on a 10-0 run to take a 23-22 lead with 2:22 on the clock. King's forged a 23-23 tie at the break when Prociak made one-of-two foul shots with 0:45 on the clock.

The teams played on even terms through the third quarter as the score remained tied at 35-35 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

After an Aggie bucket, Steeber knotted the score at 37-37 on an inside basket with 7:13 left in the contest. But the Aggies used a layup from Morgan Mitchell and one-of-two foul shots by Monica Smallwood to move ahead 40-37 with 6:24 to play.

King's battled back and took a 41-40 with 2:22 to go after four straight points from Prociak. But Ashley Smink canned a three-pointer at the 1:27 mark to put the Aggies ahead 43-41 with 1:27 left.

King's then made a costly turnover as Smink followed with a steal and lay-up to push the score to 45-41 with 0:17. King's would then cut the lead to 45-43 after a pair of foul shots from Shae Grim with 0:07 left.

Forced to foul, King's put Smink on the line with 0:07 left and the Aggie guard made both shots to set the final score at 47-43.

Prociak posted a double-double to lead King's with 15 points and 15 rebounds and was the lone Lady Monarch to reach double figures. Steeber followed with eight points and six rebounds while Grim tallied seven points and five rebounds.  Hoffman had six points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots in the game and moved to within four blocks of King's career mark of 207 set by Heather Medashefski from 1996-1999.

King's hurt itself by committing 22 turnovers in the game. Free throws, however, proved to be the difference as King's made just 38.9 (7-18) percent from the charity stripe.

Danielle Skedzielewski led Delaware Valley with 14 points and five rebounds while Smink finished with 12 points, six steals, and four rebounds.

King's returns to action Saturday at 1:00 PM with a home freedom Conference matchup against Eastern University in Scandlon Gymnasium.