SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton women's basketball team (7-2) used a big third quarter to take control of the game in a 53-44 victory over the Dickinson Red Devils (4-4) in the opening round of the Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Classic on Tuesday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.

Scranton led 26-23 at halftime and outscored the Red Devils by a 19-8 margin in the third quarter to open up a 45-31 lead after three.

The Lady Royals advance to tomorrow's Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Classic Championship Game versus TCNJ at 7:30 p.m. TCNJ was a 61-50 victor over Stevenson in Tuesday's first game.

This marked the fourth all-time meeting between the Lady Royals and Red Devils and the first since Nov. 23, 2008.

Dickinson led 11-6 in the early stages of the first quarter and a jumper from junior Kyra Quigley (Drexel Hill, Pa./Sacred Heart Academy Bryn Mawr) at the buzzer cut the lead to 13-10 at the end of one. Scranton opened the second quarter on an 8-2 run and senior Emily Shurina (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) hit a layup to make it 18-15 in favor of the hosts at the 7:14 mark before the Red Devils rallied to take a 23-20 lead. There, junior Bridget Monaghan (Florham Park, N.J./Morristown-Beard) and sophomore Allie Lynch (Villanova, Pa./Academy of Notre Dame de Namur) buried consecutive threes to open up a 26-23 edge for the Lady Royals at halftime.

Sophomore Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) sank a jumper to kickstart a 17-4 run over the final eight plus minutes of the third quarter and a layup from Monaghan in the final minute opened up the afore-mentioned 45-31 lead after three. The Red Devils would rally though and cut the lead to six following a Kate Montgomery layup with 4:43 to play, but Lynch responded with a three to stretch the lead back to nine at 48-39. The Lady Royals went five-of-six from the free throw line in the final minute to preserve the victory.

Monaghan led all scorers with 15 points, while Lynch and Anderson added nine points apiece off the bench.

The nine points for Lynch marked a new career-high, surpassing her previous career-best of six in a win over Moravian on Feb. 24, 2021.

Montgomery paced Dickinson with 11 points and 12 rebounds in the setback.

On the night, Scranton shot 34.5% (20-of-58) from the field and 26.7% (4-of-15) from three-point range, while limiting the Red Devils to 29.6% shooting (16-of-54) from the floor and 15.0% (3-of-20) from deep.

Anderson collected a game-high 13 rebounds as the Lady Royals held a 44-37 edge on the glass.

Action between the Lady Royals and TCNJ will get underway at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night in the John Long Center.

--LADY ROYALS--