SCRANTON, Pa. – The No. 5/8 University of Scranton women's basketball team (23-2, 16-2 Landmark) used a 22-7 fourth quarter run to notch a 67-58 victory over the Elizabethtown Blue Jays (18-7, 14-4 Landmark) on Senior Day on Saturday afternoon at the John Long Center in Scranton.
With the victory, the Lady Royals have clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Landmark Conference Tournament and will host the winner of the No. 3 seed Blue Jays/No. 6 seed Moravian in semifinal action on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Scranton led 44-41 after three quarters and sophomore Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) scored 10 straight points for the hosts to begin the 22-7 run which led to a 66-51 advantage after two free throws from fellow sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) with 0:57 to play.
The Blue Jays led 9-5 just under three minutes into the game when a Kranson layup ignited a quick 6-0 spurt that gave the Lady Royals an 11-9 edge at the 5:41 mark. After an Elizabethtown basket, Scranton scored five of the final six points in the quarter and took a 16-12 lead after one. A Kranson three with six minutes to play in the second stanza made it a 23-14 game for the time being before the Blue Jays fought back to cut the deficit to five at 29-24. In the final minute of the quarter, senior Allie Lynch (Villanova, Pa./Academy of Notre Dame de Namur) tallied a steal and found graduate student Hannah Angelini (Baldwin Place, N.Y./Somers) who buried a three for a 33-24 lead at the break.
In the third quarter, Romanowski sank a free throw and senior Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) connected on a three as the Lady Royals took a 37-26 lead for the time being. Later in the quarter, the hosts led 39-31 when Kranson hit a three and followed with a layup that made it 44-31 with 6:08 left. Elizabethtown was able to respond with a 10-0 run over the final six plus minutes of the period and Scranton held a 44-41 advantage after three. The afore-mentioned 10 straight points from Kranson ignited the decisive 22-7 run and made it a 54-46 game at the 7:08 mark. After the Blue Jays' Summer McNulty sank a three on the ensuing possession, senior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) hit consecutive layups and Scranton scored 10 of the next 12 points for the 66-51 lead with under a minute to play.
Kranson led all scorers with 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting (4-of-6 3PT) and notched her third 30-point game of the season. Hartnett was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and added 11 points, while Angelini recorded seven points, three assists, two boards and two steals.
Ryan added six points, a career-best six assists and four rebounds.
McNulty had 17 points to pace the Blue Jays in the setback.
Scranton shot 48.9% (23-of-47) from the field and 8-of-17 (47.1%) from long range on the day and Elizabethtown was 21-of-48 (43.8%) from the floor and 3-of-11 (27.3%) from deep.
The Blue Jays held a slight 25-23 edge in the rebounding battle as Hartnett and graduate student Kyra Quigley tallied five boards apiece to lead Scranton.
A full preview of Thursday's semifinal matchup will be posted on Wednesday at athletics.scranton.edu.
Prior to the game, the Lady Royals honored the senior class of Hartnett, Lynch, Ryan, Jenna Larrabee (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill), Leah Nolan (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel), Mackenzie Steele (Susquehanna, Pa./Susquehanna) and graduate student Victoria Toomey (Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore).
--LADY ROYALS--
