SCRANTON, Pa. – Graduate student Abby Anderson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) scored a career-high 27 points and The University of Scranton women's basketball team (8-2) captured the Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Championship with a 60-47 victory over the TCNJ Lions (6-6) on Wednesday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.

Anderson scored her career-best 27 on 11-of-19 shooting and garnered Tournament MVP honors, while junior Bridget Monaghan (Florham Park, N.J./Morristown-Beard) was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

For the second straight night, the Lady Royals held a slight edge at halftime and were able to pull away in the second half for the win.

The two teams traded baskets for a majority of the first quarter and a late bucket from TCNJ tied things at 11 apiece after one. The Lions scored the first five points of the second quarter, but Scranton responded with a 13-4 run over the remainder of the quarter and a late three from Anderson made it 24-20 at the half.

Anderson buried another three to stretch the lead to 31-23 in the early stages of the third quarter before TCNJ battled back to cut the lead to four at 35-31 at the 2:44 mark. Monaghan then scored five of the Lady Royals' final seven points of the quarter and the hosts led 42-33 at the end of three. In the fourth quarter, consecutive layups from Anderson and senior Danielle McCurdy (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) extended the advantage to 50-35 with 5:54 to play and the Lions were unable to get any closer than 10 the rest of the way.

This marked the fifth 20-point game of the season for Anderson and her third in her last four outings.

Elsewhere for the Lady Royals, Monaghan added 17 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Arianna McCleod had 13 points and Julia Setaro added 12 to pace TCNJ in the loss.

Scranton shot 43.9% (25-of-57) from the floor and 25.0% (4-of-16) from beyond the arc, while the Lions were 18-of-51 (35.3%) from the field and 7-of-26 (26.9%) from deep.

Head coach Nick DiPillo's squad held a slight 36-33 edge in the rebounding battle led by seven from Anderson and six from sophomore Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy).

The Lady Royals will resume action after Christmas as they head to Florida for a pair of games in the Naples Holiday Shootout. First up is a matchup with Albright on Dec. 28 at 6 p.m. followed by a game against Baldwin Wallace on Dec. 30 at 11 a.m.

--LADY ROYALS--