SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 12 University of Scranton women's basketball team (4-1) led wire to wire and cruised past the Wilkes Lady Colonels (1-4) in an 81-42 victory during the final game of the Cross-County Challenge on Sunday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.

Both junior Bridget Monaghan (Florham Park, N.J./Morristown-Beard) and graduate student Abby Anderson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) were named to the All-Tournament Team for the Lady Royals as Monaghan nabbed MVP honors after averaging 19.0 points per game in the two contests over the weekend.

Head coach Nick DiPillo's squad raced out to an early 12-2 lead after senior Emily Shurina (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) buried a three at the 4:52 mark. Wilkes answered with a basket on the other end, but Scranton buried a trio of three-pointers over the remainder of the quarter to take a 23-7 lead after one. It was more of the same in the second quarter as Anderson scored seven of her game-high 16 points in the quarter and a triple from junior Sara Walsh (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) made it a 41-18 game at halftime.

The decisive halftime lead made things academic for the Lady Royals who closed the third quarter on a 10-1 run to take a 67-28 lead after three and senior Kayla Farney (Webster, N.Y./Webster-Thomas) scored five straight points in the fourth to stretch the lead to as much as 44 with a 74-30 edge at the 7:50 mark before rolling to the 81-42 win.

Anderson led four in double figures for Scranton with her 16 points, while Monaghan and sophomore Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) posted 13 points apiece and Shurina chipped in with 12. Elsewhere for the Lady Royals, Anderson added five rebounds and four assists in the victory and Monaghan tallied three rebounds, three steals and a trio of assists.

Jordyn Jennings and Brianna Horton paced the Lady Colonels with seven points apiece in the losing effort.

The Lady Royals shot 42.4% from the floor and 34.3% (12-of-35) from beyond the arc, while limiting Wilkes to 29.4% (15-of-51) shooting on the afternoon.

In the rebounding battle, the hosts enjoyed a 47-26 advantage led by five apiece from Anderson, Shurina and sophomore Jenna Larrabee (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill).

Scranton will enjoy some time off for the Thanksgiving Break before returning to action at Misericordia on Monday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.

--LADY ROYALS--