SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 3/5 University of Scranton women's basketball team (12-1, 5-1 Landmark) outlasted the Susquehanna University River Hawks (8-5, 3-3 Landmark) and notched a 58-46 victory on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.

With the victory, the Lady Royals improve to 55-1 all-time against the River Hawks.

Both teams played strong defense through much of the first quarter and freshman Meghan Lamanna (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) hit a three at the 2:49 mark to spark a 7-0 run and Scranton held a 12-8 lead after one. In the second period, sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) sank a jumper for a 20-14 lead with 7:54 remaining, but Susquehanna then scored the next four points to fight back within two at 20-18. Lamanna quickly responded for the hosts with a jumper and the Lady Royals closed the half on an 11-4 run over the final 6:30 and senior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) hit a jumper of her own in the final seconds for a 31-22 advantage at the break.

The River Hawks tallied six of the first eight points in the third quarter that sliced the Scranton lead to five at 33-28 before sophomore Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) made a layup which ignited a 10-0 run and a 15-3 stretch over the remainder of the quarter. Senior Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) sank two free throws with 0:23 left to open up a 48-31 lead headed to the fourth and then buried a three to start the quarter as the Lady Royals led by as many as 20 at 51-31. From there, Susquehanna was unable to get any closer than 10 the rest of the way and Scranton made four free throws over the final 1:51 to help preserve the victory.

Kranson led all scorers with 18 points and also added 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, while Ryan tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Elsewhere for Scranton, Romanowski contributed six points, five boards and four steals.

Kaitlyn Lynch and Julia Roth had 13 points apiece to pace the River Hawks in the setback.

The Lady Royals shot 31.7% (19-of-60) from the floor, 28.6% (4-of-14) and 72.7% (16-of-22) from the charity stripe, while Susquehanna shot was 16-of-47 (34.0%) from the field, 2-of-10 (20.0%) from three and 12-of-22 (54.5%) from the free throw line.

Susquehanna held a slight 40-36 edge on the glass and Kranson led the way for Scranton with her 11 boards, which matched a season-high.

Scranton returns to action on Wednesday night at Moravian with action slated to get underway at 7 p.m.

--LADY ROYALS--