JANUARY 18, 2017
MONARCHS UNABLE TO OVERCOME SLOW START IN LOSS TO COUGARS
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College women's basketball team showed a gritty effort in the second half but could not overcome shooting 12.1 percent in the first half in a 60-49 loss to Misericordia University on Wednesday at McGrane Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre.
Misericordia improves to 10-5 overall and 4-1 in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom play with the win while the Lady Monarchs fall to 2-13 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
Wednesday's night game was a tale of two halves for King's. In the first half the team didn't see the ball go in the net making just four of their 33 shots as Misericordia built a 32-9 halftime lead. In the second half King's shot much better making 35.7 (15-42) percent of their shots from the field and outscored the Cougars 40-28.
The Lady Monarchs came out strong in the second half outscoring the Cougars 21-7 in the third quarter. Kayla Feairheller got things going for the Monarchs with a jumper to cut the lead to 33-11 with 9:28 left in the quarter. After the teams traded layups Erin Schmidt knocked down a three to bring the deficit down to 19 points. The Cougars increased the lead back up to 21 points on a layup from Justine Seely with 6:12 left. King's then started to chip away at the lead keeping the Cougars scoreless until a little under a minute left in the quarter. Offensively they received a jumper from Olivia Hoffman, a basket from Alexis Steeber, a layup from Kasey Seitz and a three from Shae Grim to cut the lead down to 37-25 with 3:08 left. After the Cougar bucket Grim stole the ball and scored on a fast break layup and Seitz knocked down a three right before time expired to cut the lead to single digits heading into the fourth quarter at 39-30.
In the fourth the Cougars scored the first five points to bring their advantage up to 14 points. King's responded with two made free throws from Steeber and a three-pointer from Seitz to bring to score to 44-35 with 6:54 remaining. However the Monarchs had trouble getting any closer as the Cougars were able to keep the deficit in between eight and 13 points the rest of the way.
King's was led by Erin Schmidt with a career high 11 points. Kasey Seitz had a season-high 10 points and Olivia Hoffman nearly missed another double-double recording eight rebounds and eight blocks, including five in the first quarter. Shae Grim scored nine points and Rebecca Prociak had six points, six rebounds, and a block.
The Cougars were led by Justine Seely with 31 points and 18 rebounds.
The Lady Monarchs will be back in action on Saturday when they host Wilkes University at 1:00 p.m. in McGrane Gymnasium. Before the game the Lady Monarchs will hold their annual Alumni Game beginning at 10:00 a.m.