SCRANTON, Pa. - Trailing by one going into the fourth quarter, the second-seeded University of Scranton women's basketball team was dominant in the fourth quarter, outscoring third-seeded Moravian by 12 (25-13) in the final frame to take a 71-60 victory over the Greyhounds in the semifinals of the 2017 Landmark Conference Playoffs inside the John Long Center on Wednesday night.
With the victory, the 19th-ranked Lady Royals now head to the Landmark Conference Championship game on Saturday, where they will take on top-seeded Catholic on the road at 4 p.m. The Cardinals survived in overtime against fourth-seeded Elizabethtown at home this evening in their semifinal match-up, 60-56.
It will be the fifth straight season that Scranton will play for the Landmark title (ninth Landmark title game all-time), as the Lady Royals will try to win their second straight Landmark championship in the game.
With the defeat, Moravian ended their 2016-17 season with a 19-7 overall mark.
The opening frame of the game saw the Lady Royals come out on fire, as they opened a 14-4 lead in the first six minutes of play. The 10-point lead held through the rest of the quarter, as Scranton led Moravian, 18-8, after the first 10 minutes of action.
To start the second quarter, Scranton extended the lead out to 25-12 with eight minutes to go in the first half, but here, Moravian slowly started to get back in the game.
A 16-5 run over the next seven minutes cut the Scranton lead all the way down to two points (30-28) late in the quarter, but Scranton ended the half strong, scoring the final five points of the second frame to take a 35-28 lead into intermission.
Once again, Scranton started a quarter hot, as they quickly went up 10 (38-28) early in the third. But, Moravian roared back over the rest of the frame, as a 13-4 run gave the Greyhounds their first lead of the night at 43-42 with two minutes to go in the quarter.
The lead was wrestled back and forth between the teams to end the frame, but it was Moravian who held the slim 47-46 lead on Scranton entering the final quarter. Here, the Lady Royals began a charge that would catapult them to a victory.
To start the fourth, Scranton scored six straight points to go up 52-47 on the Greyhounds with 6:56 left. After quickly cutting the Lady Royal lead to three (52-49), Scranton scored back-to-back buckets to take a 56-49 lead with four minutes left.
After Moravian sliced the lead to five (56-51), senior Sarah Payonk (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) converted on a three-point play, ballooning the lead back up to 59-51.
With 3:10 left, Moravian sank two free throws to cut the lead back down to six (59-53), but this proved to the the closest the Greyhounds came to the lead the rest of the night, as junior Katie Broderick (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) nailed a dagger three-pointer on Scranton's next possession, extending the lead out to 62-53 with 2:28 left.
Broderick's three took all the momentum out of Moravian's sails for the evening, as the closest they came to the Scranton lead the rest of the way was seven points (62-55) with just under two minutes left. Down the stretch, the Lady Royals sank seven straight free throws to clinch the win, earning an 11-point victory with a dominating fourth quarter performance.
Overall, the senior forward tandem of Payonk and Alexix Roman (Hawley, Pa./Wallenpaupack) led the Lady Royals all night long. Payonk finished with a double-double, scoring a game-high 20 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Payonk also had six assists, three steals and two blocks in the win, as well.
Meanwhile, Roman finished with 14 points, marking the eighth straight contest she has scored in double-figures and the 23rd time on the year she has scored in double-digits. Sophomore guard Bridgette Mann (Canadensis, Pa./Wallenpaupack)finished with 17 points and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
Of note, freshman guard Lily Warhaftig (Harlem, N.Y./Poly Prep) came off the bench and gave the Lady Royals 21 huge minutes throughout the second half in her first Landmark Conference playoff game. Warhaftig ended the game with a basket, three steals and two assists.
Moravian was led in the loss by Maddie Capuano, who finished with 15 points.
Scranton now sets their sights to Saturday's title tilt with Catholic, who the Lady Royals will take on for the Landmark title for the third straight season. Last year, Scranton upended the Cardinals at home, 78-57, to win their fourth Landmark championship all-time.
In 2016-17, the visiting team has won each match-up. Catholic won in the Long Center, 82-76 (in overtime) on January 21, then Scranton went down to Washington D.C. and edged the Cardinals on their home floor, 48-46, on February 11.
--LADY ROYALS--