WASHINGTON, D.C. - Junior guard Katie Broderick (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) saved the best performance of her three-year career for the right moment, scoring a career-high 14 points to earn Most Valuable Player Honors, as the second-seeded University of Scranton women's basketball team pulled away in the second half to win the 2016-17 Landmark Conference Championship at top-seeded Catholic, 58-42, on Saturday.
With the victory, the 19th-ranked Lady Royals (24-3 overall) captured their second straight Landmark Conference Championship. It is the fifth Landmark Conference crown for the program and the 26th conference championship all-time. The victory also clinched the Lady Royals their 30th bid to the NCAA Tournament all-time, as well.
The win was also the 999th in program history and the 28th straight on the road for the Lady Royals dating back to 2015.
Catholic fell to 23-4 overall with the defeat.
In what marked the third consecutive year that Catholic and Scranton battled for the Landmark title, the game opened as a close, low-scoring affair between the squads.
Despite holding a lead for most of the first quarter, Scranton biggest edge was four points in the first ten minutes, as the Lady Royals went up 12-10 after one.
It was more of the same in the second quarter, as Catholic took their first lead of the game at 15-14 with 6:49 left in the half. Scranton eventually grabbed the lead back, with the final basket of the quarter coming with three minutes left as senior Sarah Payonk (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) hit a bucket to put the Lady Royals up 24-21.
That lead would hold for Scranton over the final three minutes, as the Lady Royals kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard for the final moments of the first half to take a three-point lead into intermission.
To start the second half, Scranton continued to suffocate the Catholic offense, while offensively going on a dominating run that put away the Cardinals for the afternoon.
Scranton opened the third on a 8-0 spurt that put them up by double-figures at 32-21 with four minutes to go in the frame.
Catholic finally scored their first points in almost 10 full minutes of game action with to make it 32-23, but was outscored 4-3 over the rest of the period, as Scranton went into the fourth quarter up by 10 at 36-26.
Broderick then drained a back-breaking three-pointer to kick-off the fourth quarter for Scranton, as the triple put the Lady Royals up for good at 39-26. From there, Catholic could not get back into the game, as the Lady Royals ballooned the lead out to 17 points with 2:52 left (54-37).
It was all academic from there for Scranton, as the Lady Royals clinched their second straight Landmark Conference title with the 16-point win on the road.
Overall, three Lady Royals posted double-digit point games in the win.
Leading the way was senior forward Alexix Roman (Hawley, Pa./Wallenpaupack), who had a game-high 17 points, while pulling down nine rebounds. For Roman, it marked the 13th time on the year she had led the Lady Royals in scoring and the sixth time in the last eight games for Scranton that she has accomplished the feat.
Broderick ended the day shooting 5-of-6 from the floor and 4-of-5 from outside the arc to earn MVP honors with her career-best 14 point effort, while sophomore Bridgette Mann (Canadensis, Pa./Wallenpaupack) ended the night with 10 points. Payonk also chipped in with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
But, the old adage of "defense wins championships" rang true for Scranton in the victory, as the Lady Royal defense was dominating all afternoon.
Overall, Scranton held Catholic to just 28.2 percent shooting from the floor in the win, as the Cardinals made only two three-pointers the entire contest. The 42-point output was the lowest of the year for Catholic, as they scored only 88 points combined on the Lady Royals in their last two matchups of the season (after scoring 82 in a win in the Long Center on Jan. 21).
Scranton, who locked up the Landmark's automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Tournament with the win, now await who they will play in the First Round of the tournament. Selections will be made at 2:30 p.m. EST on Monday afternoon.
--LADY ROYALS--