WASHINGTON, D.C. – The No. 7/9 University of Scranton women's basketball team (13-2, 6-2 Landmark) dropped an 89-86 overtime heartbreaker to the No. 13/14 Catholic University Cardinals (14-0, 7-0 Landmark) in a thriller on Friday night at Franny Murray Court in Washington, D.C.

Trailing 89-86 in the final seconds of overtime, a Lady Royals' three-point attempt was just wide of the mark and Catholic was able to escape with the victory. The Cardinals had forced overtime when Keegan Douglas hit a three to tie the game at 70 apiece with just one second left in regulation.

Scranton trailed 85-78 with 1:23 left in overtime before sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) sank a jumper to begin a late rally that cut the lead to three and set up the chance to tie on the game's final possession.

Romanowski led all scorers with a career-high 38 points for Scranton, which is tied for the second-most points in a single game in program history and the most since Shelley Ritz also scored 38 against Delaware Valley on Jan. 29, 1986.

The Lady Royals scored the first eight points of the game and senior Maddy Ryan's (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) jumper made it 8-0 at the 7:47 mark of the first quarter. Catholic was able to battle back and eventually scored the final six points of the quarter to tie the game at 19 apiece after one. In the second quarter, the score held at 26-25 Catholic for nearly five minutes before Romanowski converted a three-point play and then hit a floater at the buzzer, which gave the visitors a 31-28 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, the two sides continued to trade punches and the game was deadlocked at 40 when sophomore Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) sank a jumper to break the tie and a free throw from senior Allie Lynch (Villanova, Pa./Academy of Notre Dame de Namur) in the final seconds of the quarter gave the Lady Royals a 46-43 edge. Holding a 48-45 lead with just over seven minutes to play, Romanowski sank two free throws to ignite a 12-2 run and capped things off with a jumper that made it 60-47 at the 4:44 mark. From there, Scranton held a 66-55 advantage with 2:31 to go in regulation when the Cardinals registered a 10-0 run and cut the deficit to one at 66-65 on Kerry Flaherty's three at the one-minute mark. Romanowski went four-of-four from the charity stripe in the final minute and the latter two opened up a 70-67 lead for the Lady Royals before Douglas' afore-mentioned three sent the game to overtime.

Senior Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) buried a three to tie the game at 75 with 3:46 left in overtime, but the Cardinals quickly answered with a three from Carly Mulvaney on the other end and did not relinquish the lead the rest of the way despite the valiant comeback effort from Scranton.

Romanowski's 38 points came on 13-of-20 shooting and she was joined in double figures by Kranson with 21 points and 12 rebounds and Ryan with 13 points. Hartnett added six points, a season-high nine rebounds and four assists for head coach Ben O'Brien's team.

For Kranson, the double-double was her fifth of the season.

Douglas led five Cardinals in double figures with 29 points and Mulvaney added 16.

Scranton shot 43.2% (32-of-74) from the floor, 15.0% (3-of-20) from deep and 57.6% (19-of-33) from the free throw line on the night, while Catholic was 26-of-67 (38.8%) from the field, 11-of-27 (40.7%) from long range and 26-of-34 (76.5%) from the charity stripe.

The Lady Royals held a 57-37 edge on the glass led by Kranson's 12 and Hartnett's nine boards.

The University of Scranton women's basketball team will return home to host Lycoming on Wednesday night at the John Long Center with opening tip slated for 7 p.m.