Alison Sweeney	Lindsay Fluehr
Meredith Mesaris	Erin Boggan

Box score

Photo Gallery (courtesy of Emma Black)

Trailing by nine at halftime, The University of Scranton women's basketball team played one of its best halves of the season, rallying for a 65-58 victory over Juniata in the Long Center on Saturday night.

The victory snaps a two-game losing streak and pulls the Lady Royals (13-6, 5-3 Landmark) into a tie for third place with Juniata (14-5, 5-3 Landmark). The teams split the two regular season meetings. The top four teams earn berths in the Landmark Conference playoffs.

Junior guard Alison Sweeney (Wall, N.J./St. Rose) and sophomore guard Lindsay Fluehr (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy) had 12 points each to lead Scranton. Sophomore forward Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) added 11 points.

Scranton trailed, 33-24, at the break after Juniata finished the half on a 10-3 run. The Eagles shot 44.8 percent (13-for-29) in the opening half while holding Scranton to just 21.2 percent (7-for-33) from the field.

But the Lady Royals found their shooting touch after the break, using a 17-4 run to turn an eight-point deficit into a 45-40 lead with 12:45 to play. Sweeney had eight of her 10 second-half points during the run, and Mesaris scored the first five to spark the game-changing spurt.

Scranton stretched the lead to 59-51 with 2:14 to play before the Eagles made one last run, outscoring the Lady Royals, 7-1, to draw within two with 50 seconds remaining. The teams traded quick turnovers on the Scranton end before Fluehr hit four straight free throws and senior forward Erin Boggan (Danbury, Conn./Danbury) added one of her own to seal the victory.

The Lady Royals shot 46.4 percent (13-for-28) while holding Juniata to 32.1 percent (9-for-28) in the second half.

Boggan narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with nine points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Sophomore guard Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) came off the bench to contribute eight points, two assists and a steal, and freshman guard Jaclyn Gantz (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) had seven points, three rebounds and two steals in 14 minutes.

The Lady Royals tied their season low with 12 turnovers while shooting 32.8 percent (20-for-61) for the game. They connected on 17 of 21 from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle, 43-39.

Juniata was led by junior forward Kate McDonald (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa./State College Area), who scored a game-high 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. The Eagles committed 18 turnovers while shooting 38.6 percent (22-for-57) from the field and 5-for-9 from the free throw line.

Scranton returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 30, when it travels to Kings Point, N.Y. for a Landmark Conference game against Merchant Marine Academy at 7 p.m. 

--LADY ROYALS--