Alison Sweeney	Jaclyn Gantz	Lia DiSciascio
Stephanie Keyes	Meredith Mesaris	Sarah Payonk

Box Score
Photo Gallery (courtesy of Dan Ceccacci)
Photo Gallery (courtesy of Emma Black)

SCRANTON, Pa.—Senior guard Alison Sweeney (Wall, NJ/St. Rose) scored 15 points and juniors Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O’Hara) and Stephanie Keyes (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and sophomore Jaclyn Gantz (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) provided a big lift off the bench, leading The University of Scranton women’s basketball team to a 77-44 victory over the Merchant Marine Academy Saturday afternoon at the Long Center.

Gantz finished with 11 points and Keyes and DiSciascio added nine and eight, respectively, as the Lady Royals won their second straight game to improve to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Landmark.  Scranton also received 12 points from junior forward Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax).

Merchant Marine, which fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play, was led by freshman guard Kelsey Hofmann (Adel, Iowa/Adel-DeSota-Minburn) with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists and junior forward Rebecca Resor (Bay St. Louis, Miss./Bay) chipped in eight points, three rebounds, and two steals.

With his starting five struggling early, veteran Scranton head coach Mike Strong turned to his bench, a move that ignited the Lady Royals.

Keyes buried three 3-pointers within a four-minute span and DeSciascio added five points as Scranton went on a 30-4 run that turned an 11-8 lead into a comfortable 41-12 advantage by intermission.

The Mariners’ inability to hang on to the basketball hurt them dearly today, turning the ball over 19 times in the first half and 32 for the game, which Scranton took advantage of by converting them into 36 points.

Freshman forward Sarah Payonk (Schwecknsville, Pa./Spring-Ford) finished with six points, eight rebounds, three assists, and two blocks for Scranton, which did not play a starter more than 24 minutes.

The win was the 14th straight by the Lady Royals over the Mariners since the two institutions became conference members.

Scranton will open a five-game road trip tomorrow afternoon against Kean University in Union, New Jersey, beginning at 3:00 p.m.

--LADY ROYALS--