SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 6 University of Scranton women's basketball team (4-0) shot 52.2% from the floor and led wire-to-wire in a dominant 86-43 victory over the Albright Lions (2-2) on Monday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.
This marked the first meeting between the two teams since Jan. 5, 2010.
The 52.2% field goal shooting was the best clip by the Lady Royals since also shooting 52.2% in an 87-67 victory over Elizabethtown on Jan. 13, 2023.
Scranton scored the first six and 12 of the first 14 points in the game as a three-pointer by freshman Meghan Lamanna (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) opened up a 12-2 lead at the 4:42 mark of the first quarter. Albright managed to cut the lead to eight before sophomore Kaci Kranson's (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) layup in the final seconds made it 18-8 after one. In the second quarter, fellow sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) buried a pair of threes as part of a 14-4 run that extended the lead to 32-12 with 2:31 to play and the hosts later took a 35-19 lead into the locker room.
Senior Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) scored six of the Lady Royals' first 13 points in the third quarter and her layup at the 6:12 mark opened up a 48-23 advantage. From there, the Lions were unable to get any closer than 21 the rest of the way and Lamanna and senior Allie Lynch (Villanova, Pa./Academy of Notre Dame de Namur) combined for 14 of the Lady Royals' 18 points over the final 4:08 of the quarter as Lynch's late free throws made it a 66-33 game after three. Head coach Ben O'Brien's team doubled up Albright by a 20-10 margin in the fourth quarter behind seven points from freshman Natalie Stoupakis (Totowa, N.J./Morris Catholic).
Romanowski led Scranton with a career-high 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting and was joined in double figures by Lamanna with a season-best 11 and Kranson with 10. Lynch added a season-high eight points of her own in the victory.
A total of 15 different players scored for the Lady Royals.
Mackenzie Dover had 11 points to pace Albright on the night.
The Lady Royals were 35-of-67 (52.2%) from the field and 9-of-22 (40.9%) from deep, while holding the Lions to 27.1% (13-of-48) from the floor and 26.7% (4-of-15) from long range.
Romanowski also added four steals as Scranton forced 21 Albright turnovers.
Senior Mackenzie Steele (Susquehanna, Pa./Susquehanna) corralled a career-best seven boards as the Lady Royals held a 46-27 edge in the rebounding battle.
The University of Scranton women's basketball team is back in action on Monday, Nov. 27 versus Stevens as opening tip at the Long Center is set for 7 p.m.
--LADY ROYALS--
