Meredith Mesaris	Alexix Roman	Jaclyn Gantz	Lia DiSciascio
Sarah Payonk	Lindsay Fluehr	Lexi McGivern	Katie O'Reilly

Box score

KINGS POINT, N.Y. – Senior forward Meredith Mesaris (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax) became the sixth player in University of Scranton women's basketball history to reach 1,500 career points in the Lady Royals' 79-55 victory over Merchant Marine Academy on Wednesday night in O'Hara Hall.

Mesaris finished with a game-high 20 points as the seventh-ranked Lady Royals (15-1, 8-0 Landmark) won for the seventh straight game. She now has 1,514 career points, which sixth in school history, 108 behind Megan Kopecki (2007-11), who is fifth.

The Lady Royals, who remain in first place in the conference, also received 12 points and nine rebounds from sophomore forward Alexix Roman (Hawley, Pa./Wallenpaupack) and seven points from junior guard Jaclyn Gantz (Havertown, Pa./Haverford).

Scranton put the game away right from the start, opening with a 34-2 run over the game's first 14:30. The Lady Royals carried a 42-10 lead into halftime as Mesaris had eight points and senior guard Lia DiSciascio (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) had six. Scranton shot 18-for-33 (54.5 percent) from the field in the opening 20 minutes while holding Merchant Marine Academy to just 2-for-24 (8.3 percent).

Twelve players found their way into the scoring column for Scranton by the time the game ended. Sophomore forward Sarah Payonk (Schwenksville, Pa./Spring-Ford) finished with six points, 13 rebounds and four blocks, senior guard Lindsay Fluehr (Bensalem, Pa./Nazareth Academy) had six points, six assists and three steals, and DiSciascio finished with her six first-half points.

Sophomore guard Lexi McGivern (Bethlehem, Pa./Notre Dame) added five points, as did freshman guard Katie O'Reilly (Montville, N.J./Montville), whose five points were a career high.

The Lady Royals dominated the rebounding battle, 42-34, and forced Merchant Marine Academy into 22 turnovers, which led to 24 points.

Merchant Marine Academy (2-10, 0-7 Landmark) was led by senior guard Demi VanDerWal (Springfield, Ill./Springfield), who had 20 points and four steals.

Scranton is back in action on Saturday, Jan. 17, when the Lady Royals travel to Washington, D.C. to take on Catholic in a Landmark Conference game at 1 p.m.

--ROYALS--