SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 5 University of Scranton women's basketball team (6-0, 1-0 Landmark) used a dominant first quarter to cruise to a 72-44 victory over the Wilkes University Colonels (4-1, 0-1 Landmark) in the Landmark Conference opener on Wednesday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.

With the victory, Scranton improves to 61-2 all-time against the Colonels.

The two teams were tied at four apiece at the 6:19 mark of the first quarter before a free throw by senior Allie Lynch (Villanova, Pa./Academy of Notre Dame de Namur) ignited a 19-1 run over the remainder of the period and freshman Meghan Lamanna (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) buried back-to-back threes to close the quarter with a 23-5 advantage. In the second stanza, Wilkes battled back to cut the lead to 15 at 29-14 before sophomore Kaci Kranson's (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) jumper sparked an 11-2 run and the Lady Royals eventually took a 40-20 lead into the locker room.

Scranton and Wilkes traded baskets for much of the third quarter and layups in the final minutes from sophomore Jenna Sloan (Central Square, N.Y./Bishop Grimes) and graduate student Victoria Toomey (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore) helped open up a 54-32 advantage after three. Lynch buried a three as part of a quick 7-0 spurt to begin the fourth quarter and the Lady Royals remained unbeaten with the 72-44 victory.

Lamanna and Kranson led a balanced scoring attack for Scranton with 11 points apiece and four different players scored eight in Sloan, Toomey, sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) and senior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy). Lynch also added six points, four rebounds and three steals in the victory.

The eight points marked a new career-high for Sloan who collected four rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

Brenna Babcock paced Wilkes with 15 points on the night.

Scranton shot 43.5% (27-of-62) from the field and 37.5% (6-of-16) from long range, while holding the Colonels to 31.4% (16-of-51) from the floor and 16.7% (3-of-18) from deep.

Head coach Ben O'Brien's team also forced 22 Wilkes turnovers on the night behind a career-best seven steals from Romanowski.

Toomey registered eight rebounds and Kranson added seven as the Lady Royals held a 45-33 edge in the rebounding battle.

The Lady Royals hit the road to battle Juniata on Saturday afternoon with opening tip slated for 4 p.m.

--LADY ROYALS--