NOVEMBER 18, 2017
KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL EARN WEEKEND SPLIT WITH VICTORY OVER MARYWOOD
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- Mackenzie Yori scored a career-high 30 points to lead the King's College women's basketball team to a 77-74 victory over Marywood University during the second day of the Cross County Challenge on Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center on the campus of Wilkes University. The 30 points are the most points scored in a game by a King's player since Kayla Feairheller dropped 32 at Manhattanville College on January 25, 2014.
Yori was named King's MVP of the Tournament after scoring 18 against Scranton last night. The win enabled the Monarchs to improve to 2-1 on the season while dropping Marywood to 0-2.
The Pacers raced out to a 7-2 lead in the first two minutes before Yori knocked down her first of five three-pointers to bring King's within two points. Gab Giordano knocked down the front end of two free throw attempts before Alexis Steeber and Olivia Hoffman scored back-to-back layups to give King's a 9-8 lead with 6:43 on the clock. Marywood responded with an 8-1 run capped by a three-pointer from Catie Nealon to take a six-point lead. The Monarchs countered with a jumper by Yori and a trey by Lindsey Dippre to bring the advantage down to one point with 2:46 left. The teams traded points for the rest of the quarter until Erika Bistran intercepted a pass and scored on a jumper right before the quarter ended to give Marywood a 24-21 lead.
The second quarter got off to a slow start as neither team was able to score until Sam Bruno grabbed an offensive board for the Pacers and her layup from underneath the hoop went in with 7:43 left in the half. King's responded with a steal and fastbreak bucket by Yori and a layup by Maggie Michel off an assist from Olivia Hoffman to cut the deficit to one point. Marywood scored the next six points to take their largest lead of the game with 5:33 on the clock.
The Lady Monarchs responded with a bucket from Hoffman, a three-pointer from Erin Schmidt, one of two made free throw attempts by Hoffman, and a Yori jumper to take a 33-32 lead with 3:04 remaining. The Pacers held a 35-34 lead with two minutes left before King's went on an 8-0 run to end the half. Yori started the charge when Rachael DeTore found her open for a three-pointer. The next time down the floor on offense Hoffman grabbed an offensive rebound and found Yori open in the corner for another trey to give King's a five-point lead. DeTore was fouled on a three-point attempt right before the half ended and she calmly knocked down two out of her three attempts to give King's a 42-35 lead.
The Monarchs were able to build their lead up to 12 points in the first few minutes of the second half behind six points from Yori and three from Steeber. Back-to-back buckets from the Pacers cut the lead to eight before Rebecca Prociak knocked down two foul shots to give the Monarchs a 53-43 lead with 6:02 left in the quarter. DeTore converted a layup and foul shot with 1:14 on the clock to give King's a 61-52 lead. However, the Pacers closed the quarter strong with back-to-back threes to cut the lead to three. Yori stopped the run with a jumper to give the Monarchs a 63-58 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
The Pacers knocked down another trey to begin the fourth but King's countered with six points from Hoffman on three layups over the first three minutes to build the lead up to eight points. Bistran knocked down two shots from the line and then a three with 5:11 left to make it a one-possession game. The Monarchs received a made free throw from Hannah Gallagher and Yori's last three-pointer of the game to take a 73-66 lead with 1:37 remaining. The Pacers went on a 7-1 run over the next minute to bring the score to 74-73 with 29 seconds left. Forced to foul the Pacers put Yori on the line and she knocked down one of two shots. Marywood was able to draw a foul on their next possession to go to the charity stripe. The Pacers were unable to even the score, converting on just the second attempt. King's immediately called a timeout to advance the ball to their offensive side of the court and the set up a final play with just one second left.
The Monarchs ran the inbounds play to perfection as Prociak received the pass under the Monarch basket where she was fouled right before time expired. She calmly stepped to the line and knocked down both shots to clinch the victory for the Monarchs.
Mackenzie Yori had 30 points while shooting 10-16 from the field including 5-10 from long range, and 5-8 from the foul line. She also recorded a career-high four steals. Alexis Steeber and Olivia Hoffman nearly missed double-doubles as Steeber recorded 13 points and nine rebounds while Hoffman had 11 points and eight rebounds. Rachael DeTore added five points and a career-high five assists while Hannah Gallagher scored five points. Erin Schmidt and Rebecca Prociak each scored four points while Prociak also grabbed six rebounds. Lindsey Dippre had three points and two assists while Maggie Michael scored two points.
The Monarchs shot a season-best 42.6 (26-61) percent from the field including 31.8 (7-22) percent from long range. King's drew 22 fouls to get to the line 32 times and converted 18 of their attempts. King's won the turnover battle forcing 15 while committing a season-low 13.
Marywood had three players in double figures led by Erika Bistran with 21. Natasha Hessling added 12 points and eight rebounds and Gab Giordano had 10 points, six rebounds, and six assists.
King's will return home to end their stretch of four games in seven days to begin the season for their home opener on Tuesday night against Keystone College at 6:00 p.m. in McGrane Gymnasium.