SCRANTON, Pa. -- On a day she will be remembered for becoming the 26th Elizabethtown College women's basketball player to score 1,000 career points, senior Emily Martin made big play after big play on defense in leading the Blue Jays to a 61-55 upset of No. 8/7 Scranton, Saturday, at the John Long Center.
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The win was huge on a number of levels for the Blue Jays.
It was their first over Scranton since the 1990-91 season, a span of 22 games, and also snapped a 13-game road losing streak to the Lady Royals. Elizabethtown avenged a heartbreaking 51-50 loss to then-No. 3 ranked Scranton back on Jan. 7, for their first victory over a ranked opponent since beating No. 5 Messiah 62-57, in Grantham, Jan. 23, 2013. Most importantly, it pulled the Jays into a tie with Drew for the final Landmark Championship tournament spot at 4-4.
The Blue Jays and Rangers meet Wednesday evening at Thompson Gymnasium.
E-town (14-4, 4-4 Landmark) played air-tight defense in the first half, forcing 14 Lady Royal turnovers and turning them into 14 points. The Blue Jays effectively sealed off the entry pass, making life difficult on Scranton All-America senior forward Sarah Payonk, who committed six of her team's first half giveaways. When the Lady Royals did get the ball inside, Martin was there to clean up. She blocked four shots in the opening 20 minutes and finished with seven, one off her career-high.
Martin, who entered the game 20 points shy of 1,000, scored 12 in the first half. Lydia Lawson, from nearby Mountain Top, popped in a 3-pointer and had eight, while Emma Hoesman nailed both of her long distance attempts for six. The Blue Jays carried a 36-22 lead to halftime and left the reeling Lady Royals with their largest deficit of the season to overcome.
Scranton (17-2, 6-2), ranked No. 8 in the latest WBCA poll and No. 7 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, nearly did fight all the way back.
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Eight unbeatens stay that way No. 1 Tufts 73, Bates 44 |
Martin scored her 1,000th point after grabbing a Lawson 3-point attempt that was just off the mark and putting it back for a 52-40 Blue Jay lead with 6:25 to play. The Lady Royals awoke right after Martin's milestone basket, though, going on a 10-0 tear to put Elizabethtown's upset hopes in peril.
Abby Beyer was fouled while firing a trey from the left corner on E-town's next offensive possession and promptly made 2 of 3 to make it a two-score game again. The Blue and Gray made four of their next five free throws to extend their lead back to seven, 59-52, with under two minutes to play and converted 6 of 7 down the stretch to cap the program's biggest win in recent memory.
Martin totaled 22 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. The Lancaster Catholic grad moved into 25th on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,002 points.
Hoesman added 11 points and Beyer 10. Lawson dished out a game-high five assists to go with nine points.
For Beyer, Saturday marked her sixth consecutive game scoring in double figures. She's averaging 15.0 points per game during the streak.
Elizabethtown shot 41.3 percent for the game (19 of 46) and 75 percent from the charity stripe (18 of 24). The Lady Royals were held to 38.8 percent shooting (19 of 49) and turned it over 19 times. Payonk scored 17 points and pulled in nine rebounds to lead Scranton. Alexix Roman and Denise Rizzo had 10 points apiece.
The Blue Jays will face Drew at Thompson Wednesday at 7 p.m.