FEBRUARY 3, 2018

KING'S WOMEN USE BIG SECOND HALF TO DOWN EASTERN, 58-44

WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College women's basketball overcame a poor second quarter by putting together a big second half as the Lady Monarchs picked up an important MAC Freedom Conference victory over visiting Eastern University Saturday afternoon in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 13-8 overall and 8-2 in the conference to remain in a first-place tie with FDU-Florham. The Devils defeated DeSales 72-60 on Saturday afternoon as well.

King's opened a 14-8 lead after one quarter but the Lady Monarchs were unable to find the basket in the second period as Eastern outscored the Lady Monarchs 17-7 to take a 25-20 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, King's picked up the defensive pressure and outscored the Eagles 16-4 to take a 36-29 lead after a pair of foul shots from Olivia Hoffman and a traditional three-point play from Rebecca Prociak with 4:19 to go in the quarter. King's eventually built a 41-33 lead following a driving lay-up from Alexis Steeber as King's outscored the Eagles 21-8 in the third quarter.

It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as the Lady Monarchs slowly pulled away. A three-pointer from Mackenzie Yori pushed the score to 46-35 at the 7:27 mark after the teams traded misses Rachael DeTore game King's a 48-35 advantage with a driving lay-up. Erin Schmidt then drained a jumper from the right win as the King's lead swelled to 50-35 with 5:04 left in the contest.  The Lady Monarchs eventually took a 16-point lead, their biggest in the game, on a Hoffman inside bucket with 2:27 to play to extend the score to 56-42.

King's ultimately outscored Eastern 38-19 in the second half to walk away with the victory.

Prociak led King's with 18 points and eight rebounds while Steeber added 16 points. Hoffman had a double-double with 11 points, 10 boards, and three blocks while Yori contributed seven points and three steals. Defensively, King's forced 20 Eastern turnovers while committing just 12.

Eastern was paced by Viki Kneis and Taylor Azer with 10 points apiece.

King's returns to the court Wednesday with a 6:00 PM home matchup against MAC Freedom foe Misericordia University.