JANUARY 11, 2017
DEVILS USE BIG THIRD QUARTER TO DEFEAT LADY MONARCHS
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought decision to the four-time defending conference champion FDU-Florham on Wednesday night at McGrane Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre.
The Devils, who needed a big third quarter to get past the Monarchs, improve to 12-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play. The Lady Monarchs fell to 2-11 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
FDU-Florham got off to a fast start taking an early 9-2 lead after a three-pointer with 6:08 left in the quarter. After the teams traded buckets the Devils knocked down another three to take a 16-8 lead with 2:51 left. The Lady Monarchs responded with a jumper from Olivia Hoffman and eight straight points from Kayla Feairheller on two threes and a fast break layup to take an 18-16 lead with 1:03 left in the quarter. FDU-Florham responded with three points from Alyssa McDonough to end the quarter with a 19-18 lead.
The Devils opened up the scoring in the second quarter with a bucket before the Monarchs got back-to-back layups from Hoffman and Feairheller to take a 22-21 lead with 7:48 left in the half. The Devils then went on a 6-1 run to take a 27-23 lead with 6:17 remaining. King's tied the game up on a Kasey Seitz jumper in the paint and then a layup from Alexis Steeber off an assist from Rebecca Prociak. The Devils were able to score the next four points but the Monarchs responded with a jumper and two made free throws from Feairheller to tie the game at 31 heading into the half.
Seitz knocked down a three to give King's a three-point lead to begin the second half but from there the Devils took advantage of five straight missed shots from the Lady Monarchs to build a nine-point lead at 43-34 with 5:24 left in the quarter. After trading baskets the Devils received a layup from Rachel Groom with just over a minute left and two made foul shots from McDonough to take a 55-42 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Devils took their largest lead of the game when Groom knocked down one of two free throws with 8:07 left to take a 58-44 lead. The Lady Monarchs battled back and went on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes behind two free throws from Prociak, a jumper by Hoffman, a layup by Sara Wolbert, and a three-pointer from Kayla Dillinger to cut the deficit down to six points at 59-53 with a little over five minutes remaining. The Lady Monarchs had a chance to cut into the lead even further after a steal by Seitz but a jumper by Feairheller was off the mark. The Devils responded by knocking down a three and then got two made foul shots to increase the lead back up to 10 points at 64-54 with 3:30 remaining. King's was able to get the deficit back down to seven points after a layup by Steeber with 1:26 left but the Devils closed out the game with three more points to set the final at 69-59.
Kayla Feairheller was one rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Monarchs. Olivia Hoffman came dangerously close to a triple-double with 12 points, eight rebounds, and seven blocks. Rebecca Prociak added nine points while Alexis Steeber scored eight. As a team blocked 11 shots for the second time this season and the third time in program history they have had that many against FDU-Florham. King's had their second-best shooting night of the year making 41.5 (22-53) percent of their shot from the field. They shot 61.1 (11-18) percent from the free throw line. They also did a great job holding onto the ball committing a season-low 15 turnovers against a FDU-Florham team who was ranked 17th in the nation forcing 25.1 turnovers per game entering the contest.
The Devils were led by Taiah Thornton with 21 points while Rachel Groom had 17 points and nine rebounds. Alyssa McDonough recorded a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds. The Monarchs did a great job in limiting Kendrea Williams, who entered the game leading the conference with 18.8 points per game, to five points on 2-18 from the field and 1-9 from beyond-the-arc. As a team FDU-Florham shot 37.5 (24-64) percent from the field and 65.4 (17-26) percent from the free throw line.
King's will be back in action on Saturday when they will travel to Purchase, N.Y. to face Manhattanville College at Kennedy Gymnasium at 1:00 p.m.