SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 6 University of Scranton women's basketball team (5-0) shot 57.9% from beyond the arc and cruised to an 89-54 victory over the Stevens Ducks (5-2) in a non-conference matchup on Monday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.
Scranton was 11-of-19 from three and freshman Meghan Lamanna (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) buried five threes en route to a career-high 21 points. The 57.9% is also the best clip for the Lady Royals since shooting 61.5% (8-of-13) in a win over Moravian on Feb. 6, 2019.
The Lady Royals scored eight of the first 10 points of the game behind consecutive threes from sophomores Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) and Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne). Stevens battled back to cut the lead to 16-15 before Lamanna connected on a three to ignite a 14-1 run over the remainder of the quarter and a 30-16 advantage. In the second quarter, the Lady Royals extended the lead to 45-23 with a layup from graduate student Victoria Toomey (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore) and eventually took a 45-27 lead into the locker room.
After Stevens opened the scoring in the third quarter, a layup by Romanowski sparked a 23-8 run over the next seven plus minutes and Toomey capped things off with another layup for a 68-37 lead at the 1:48 mark. Lamanna then hit a late three that made it a 71-41 game after three. Freshman Elizabeth Bennett (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Joseph Hill Academy) tallied nine points in the fourth quarter as the Lady Royals preserved the dominant victory to remain unbeaten.
Lamanna led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting (5-of-6 3PT) and Kranson added 17 points, while Bennett and senior Allie Lynch (Villanova, Pa./Academy of Notre Dame de Namur) contributed nine points apiece. Making her first career start, Lynch's nine points came on 3-of-5 shooting and the senior captain also added two assists, two steals and a block.
Elsewhere for Scranton, Toomey tallied six points and nine rebounds and senior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) came through with eight points and seven rebounds.
Leyla Castro paced the Ducks with 20 points in the setback.
To go along with the 57.9% clip from three-point range, the Lady Royals were 35-of-69 (50.7%) from the field and 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the charity stripe. Head coach Ben O'Brien's team also held Stevens to 36.7% (22-of-60) from the floor and 21.4% (3-of-14) from deep.
Scranton will host Wilkes in the Landmark Conference opener for both teams on Wednesday night at the John Long Center with start time slated for 7 p.m.
--LADY ROYALS--
