Box Score SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 4 University of Scranton women's basketball team (21-0, 10-0 Landmark) closed the third quarter on a 13-2 run and remained unbeaten with a 55-47 victory over the Catholic University Cardinals (16-5, 7-3 Landmark) in a rivalry matchup on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.
Scranton trailed 29-25 with 4:34 left in the third quarter when junior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) hit a layup to ignite the afore-mentioned 13-2 run and graduate student Sam Rajza (Plains, Pa./Holy Redeemer) scored seven points during the run including a pair of threes that opened up a 38-31 lead at the end of the period.
From there, Catholic was unable to get any closer than six the rest of the way.
Saturday marks the Lady Royals' ninth win in the last 10 tries against the Cardinals dating back to the 2019-20 season.
Both teams battled defensively throughout much of the first quarter and Catholic led 10-7 with just under two minutes to go before senior Hannah Angelini (Baldwin Place, N.Y./Somers) hit a layup off an inbounds pass in the final seconds to cut the deficit to one. Catholic opened the second quarter with six straight points and led 16-9, but Scranton responded with a 9-2 spurt and Rajza hit one of her five threes on the day to even things at 18 apiece at the 2:02 mark. The Cardinals used a three-pointer with under a minute to play in the quarter to take a 21-20 lead into the locker room.
Freshman Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) opened the scoring in the third quarter with a layup, but Catholic quickly regained the lead and held the 29-25 advantage before Scranton's 13-2 run that gave the hosts control of the game over the final four plus minutes of the third quarter. A three from Kranson at the 6:12 mark of the fourth quarter stretched the lead into double digits at 45-35 and the Cardinals cut the lead back to six on a couple of occasions before a Rajza jumper with 1:55 left stretched the lead to eight at 49-41. Kranson and senior Bridget Monaghan (Florham Park, N.J./Morristown-Beard) then combined to go a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line to help preserve a 21st straight win for the Lady Royals.
Rajza led all scorers with 19 points as she buried a season-high five three pointers and was joined in double figures by Kranson with 16 points and Ryan with 12.
Rachel Bussanich had 13 points to lead the Cardinals in the setback and Erin Doherty added 10 off the bench.
The Lady Royals shot 36.5% (19-of-52) from the field, 38.9% (7-of-18) from beyond the arc and 83.3% (10-of-12) from the free throw line. Catholic was 20-of-56 (35.7%) from the floor and 4-of-15 (26.7%) from long range.
Head coach Ben O'Brien's team also held a 39-31 advantage on the glass behind eight rebounds apiece from Angelini and Ryan.
Scranton will host Drew in a Landmark Conference battle on Wednesday night at the John Long Center with action getting underway at 7 p.m.
--LADY ROYALS--
