ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The No. 3 University of Scranton women's basketball team (23-0, 12-0 Landmark) tied the game with 1.5 seconds left in regulation and senior Bridget Monaghan (Florham Park, N.J./Morristown-Beard) scored 10 of her season-high 26 points in overtime as the Lady Royals registered a 79-72 victory over the No. 20/RV Elizabethtown Blue Jays (19-3, 9-3 Landmark) in a thriller on Saturday afternoon at Thompson Gymnasium.

Junior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) tied the game on a putback with 1.5 seconds left in regulation and Scranton outscored the Blue Jays by a 14-7 margin in the extra session to secure the road victory.

Monaghan hit a jumper to open the scoring in overtime and the Lady Royals scored the first eight points in the period as a Monaghan free throw made it 73-65 with 2:05 to go.

With the win, Scranton has clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Landmark Conference Tournament that will get underway on Feb. 22.

Elizabethtown came storming out of the gate and used a Lindsay Boyd three to take a 12-4 lead just three minutes into the game. From there, the Blue Jays led 15-8 before freshman Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) sank a jumper to fuel a 16-0 run that carried into the second quarter and Kranson capped things off with a layup for a 24-15 advantage at the 7:22 mark of the quarter. A layup by Ryan and a jumper by Monaghan extended the lead to 32-20, but ETown battled back over the final three plus minutes of the half and cut the Scranton lead to 35-30 headed into the locker room.

The Lady Royals led 37-32 just over a minute into the third quarter when senior Hannah Angelini (Baldwin Place, N.Y./Somers) kicked off an 8-0 run with a three and graduate student Sam Rajza (Plains, Pa./Holy Redeemer) sank a jumper on the backend for a 45-32 edge. However, ETown was able to close the quarter on a 16-6 run that trimmed the lead to 51-48 at the end of three. The Blue Jays tied the game at 51 apiece on a three from Summer McNulty, but Angelini immediately responded with a three of her own and Ryan followed with a layup for a 56-51 lead at the 7:57 mark. ETown answered with an 11-2 run over the next four plus minutes to take a 62-58 lead before Rajza hit a free throw and Monaghan sank a pair that drew the Lady Royals within one at 64-63 with 1:05 remaining. In the final seconds, the Blue Jays' Jessica King split a pair from the free throw line which gave Scranton the chance to tie/win and Ryan delivered the clutch layup that sent the game to overtime.

Monaghan was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe over the final 3:15 of overtime and made six straight at one point to help preserve the win.

The Florham Park, N.J., native had 26 (11-of-14 FT) points to lead the way offensively and also added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. All five starters scored in double figures for Scranton as Ryan added 14 points, Rajza had 13, Kranson had 12 and Angelini contributed 10.

All 10 of Angelini's points came in the second half or overtime including a pair of three-pointers.

McNulty paced the Blue Jays with a game-high 33 points and DaniRae Renno added 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The Lady Royals shot 43.3% (29-of-67) from the floor, 30.8% (4-of-13) from deep and 73.9% (17-of-23) from the free throw line. On the other side, Elizabethtown was 28-of-77 (36.4%) from the field, 7-of-22 (31.8%) from long range and 9-of-14 (64.3%) at the charity stripe.

Kranson led the Lady Royals with 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season.

Scranton is back in action on Wednesday at Moravian with action slated to get underway at 7 p.m.

--LADY ROYALS--