FEBRUARY 13, 2018
LADY MONARCHS HEADING TO POSTSEASON FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2012-13
WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College women's basketball team will play in a postseason game for the first time in five years after an 82-49 victory over Wilkes University on Tuesday night at McGrane Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre.
The Lady Monarchs had their best offensive output of the year to improve to 15-9 overall and 10-3 in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom. Wilkes fell to 4-20 overall and 0-13 in the conference. King's, who currently sits in second place in the standings, will head into the final game of the regular season with a chance to be the top seed in next week's MAC Freedom Tournament but could also drop down to the third seed. The Monarchs face conference leader FDU-Florham in a battle for the top seed. King's needs to beat the Devils and have Manhattanville beat Misericordia to be the number-one seed. The Monarchs could drop as low as third with a loss and a DeSales victory over Delaware Valley.
Wilkes jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the first 3:30 of play in what would be their largest lead of the game. King's responded with a 5-0 run over the course of the next three minutes capped by a three-pointer from Mackenzie Yori to take a 12-7 lead. The Colonels scored the next four points to bring the deficit to one with 2:42 left in the quarter. The Lady Monarchs responded with a layup from Rachael DeTore, a block by Olivia Hoffman at the other end of the floor, and then a jumper from Lindsey Dippre to head into the second quarter with a 16-1 lead.
King's began the second quarter just as hot as they ended the first as a layup from Alexis Steeber, another three from Yori, a jumper from Hoffman, and a trey from Kayla Dillinger gave the Monarchs a 26-11 advantage forcing the Colonels to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Colonels connected on two three-pointers and a jumper to cut the lead to seven points with 4:24 remaining in the half. However, King's responded with a 12-0 run highlighted by eight points from Rebecca Prociak to take a 38-19 lead with 1:36 left. Wilkes was able to score four more points before heading into the locker room with the Monarchs leading 38-23.
The third quarter was statistically the Monarchs' worst quarter of the game and they still outscored the Colonels 16-14 in the quarter and shot 33.3 (6-18) percent from the field. Prociak and Steeber started the scoring with layups and then Dillinger knocked down her second three of the night to give King's a 45-23 lead three minutes into the half. The lead increased to 29 points after Yori knocked down another three and a jumper with 3:24 remaining. The Colonels responded with a 12-0 run to end the quarter to bring the King's lead down to 17 points at 54-37.
The Monarchs responded to the Colonels run to end the quarter with their best quarter of the game. Yori began the final 10 minutes with a steal and then layup. On King's next possession Amber Farnholtz found Yori open for another three to bring King's advantage up to 22 points. After a Wilkes bucket, Hoffman found Yori for another trey. Dillinger hit her third three of the game to give King's a 65-39 lead with 7:24 left. After Prociak increased the lead to 67-40 she denied a layup at the other end by the Colonels. Not to be outdone by her teammate, Hoffman blocked the next layup the Colonels took and then grabbed the rebounds. The teams then traded buckets until Steeber scored six straight points to give the Monarchs their biggest lead of the game at 77-44 with 3:45 left. The Colonels were able to get the lead down to 30 but Farnholtz nailed King's 10th three of the day to set the final score.
Mackenzie Yori led the Monarchs with 25 points and entered the record books with six three-pointers. She now is tied for the seventh-most threes in a game in program history. Rebecca Prociak was a rebound shy of another double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds. Olivia Hoffman stuffed the stat sheet once again with 11 points, eight rebounds, five blocks, and four assists. Alexis Steeber added 10 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks. Kayla Dillinger contributed a season-high nine points and three assists.
The Monarchs finished the evening shooting 52.4 (33-63) percent from the floor including 75 percent in the fourth quarter. King's knocked down 10 three-pointers on 24 attempts and blocked 10 shots. The Monarchs won the turnover battle 14-21 while each team grabbed 40 rebounds.
Sierra Smith was the lone Colonel in double figures with 11 points. Catey McFadden had nine points and seven rebounds while Nicole Farrell added seven points and eight rebounds. Wilkes was held to shooting 29.2 (19-65) percent from the field and 27.8 (5-18) percent from long range.
King's will be back in action on Saturday when they host FDU-Florham at 1:00 p.m. on Senior Day at McGrane Gymnasium. The Lady Monarchs will look to lock up a home game in next week's conference tournament with a win and possibly the top seed. FDU-Florham won a tightly contested affair 75-66 in Madison when the teams met earlier this year.