FEBRUARY 18, 2017
LADY MONARCHS FALL IN SEASON FINALE TO NATIONALLY-RANKED DEVILS
MADISON, N.J. --- The King's College women's basketball team fell to nationally-ranked FDU-Florham 74-54 in their season finale on Saturday afternoon at the Ferguson Recreation Center in Madison. The host Devils came into the game ranked 25th in this week's WBCA Coaches' Poll and receiving votes in the D3hoops.com poll.
The Lady Monarchs season comes to an end with a 5-19 overall record and a 3-11 mark in conference play while the Devils, who had already clinched the top seed in this week's MAC Freedom Tournament, improves to 22-3 overall and 13-1 in conference play.
The teams traded baskets in the first few minutes and the Monarchs took a 9-8 lead with 5:26 remaining in the first quarter when Rebecca Prociak found Kayla Feairheller open for a three-pointer. However, King's was not able to score the rest of the quarter missing their last seven shots and the Devils went on a 10-0 run to take an 18-9 lead.
In the second quarter the Lady Monarchs held FDU-Florham scoreless for the first four minutes and received a layup from Alexis Steeber and a jumper by Shae Grim to cut the lead to five points. Alyssa McDonough knocked down a three-pointer with 5:43 left in the half to increase the Devils lead to 21-13. The Devils were able to increase their lead up to 10 points with 2:33 remaining but King's responded with a three-pointer from Grim and a jumper from Prociak. The Devils got a four-point play from Kendrea Williams to take a 33-24 halftime lead.
The Monarchs started the second half with a three-pointer by Feairheller but FDU-Florham responded with a 10-4 run to increase their lead to 43-31 with 5:45 remaining in the quarter. Olivia Hoffman knocked down two free throws and then Alexis Steeber connected on one of two free throws to bring the deficit to nine. The Devils were able to increase their lead to 15 points with a three-pointer and a layup in the last minute of the quarter to take a 55-40 lead.
The Devils began the fourth quarter on a 9-1 run to take a 65-41 lead with just under seven minutes left. FDU-Florham took their largest lead of the game with 3:09 left when Williams knocked down a three to give the Devils a 71-44 lead. Feairheller responded with a three for King's and then Steeber scored on a driving layup to cut the deficit to 22 points. Feairheller then knocked down a jumper and another three-pointer for the Monarchs to cut the advantage to 73-54 with 40 seconds left.
Senior Kayla Feairheller led King's in her final game with a season-high 18 points. Alexis Steeber added 13 points and five rebounds while Rebecca Prociak had 10 points and five rebounds. Olivia Hoffman had nine rebounds, five points, and three blocks while senior Shae Grim had five points and four rebounds. Senior Kasey Seitz added six rebounds and three points.
The Devils were led by Alyssa McDonough with 15 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists. Kendrea Williams scored a game-high 22 points and Rachel Groom recorded 19 points and nine rebounds.
Hoffman finishes the season with 95 blocked shots, just one block shy of her school record of 96 she had last year. Her mark this year came in one less game as she broke the school record for blocks per game with 4.0 blocks per game surpassing her 3.8 mark she recorded last year.
Feairheller ends her career at King's with 1,111 career points and in 15th place on all-time scoring list for the program. She also had 465 rebounds, 159 assists, 41 blocks, and 123 steals. Her 1,265 field goal attempts are the fifth most in program history and her 136 three-pointers are tied for fourth in program history while her 562 three-point attempts are also the fourth most in program history. She played in all 99 games and started 91 during her four years at King's.
Grim finishes her career with 361 career points and 187 rebounds. She had 60 assists, eight blocks, and 51 steals while missing about half of her freshman and junior seasons due to injury. She played in 76 games and started 22 in her four years.
Seitz finishes her career with 576 career points and 318 rebounds. She added 256 assists as the starting point guard over the course of her four years. She also had eight blocks and 101 steals. She played in 95 of a possible 99 games and started 90 times.