WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) scored a career-high 20 points and The No. 2 seed University of Scranton women's basketball team (25-2) led wire-to-wire to secure the program's ninth consecutive conference title with a 57-48 victory over the top-seeded Catholic University Cardinals (25-2) in the Landmark Championship game on Saturday afternoon at Franny Murray Court in Washington, D.C.
This marked the fourth time in five seasons that the Lady Royals and Cardinals have done battle in the conference title game.
Hartnett earned Tournament MVP honors for the second time in her career after she previously accomplished the feat as a freshman in 2021.
With the victory, the Lady Royals have secured the Landmark's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and the field of 64 will be announced in a live selection show on NCAA.com on Monday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
Scranton scored the first nine points of the game and a three by graduate student Hannah Angelini (Baldwin Place, N.Y./Somers) at the 6:36 mark put an exclamation point on the run. The Lady Royals led 18-6 after one quarter and Catholic then scored five straight to open the second period which cut the lead to 18-11. Senior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) quickly responded with a jumper on the other end which ignited a 16-2 run over the next six plus games and Hartnett's three extended the lead to 34-13 with 0:57 left in the half. Head coach Ben O'Brien's team took a 34-16 advantage into the locker room.
Hartnett scored the first four points of the third quarter for the Lady Royals and a jumper by Angelini made it a 44-22 game with 6:36 left in the period. Scranton took a 47-29 lead into the fourth quarter, but Catholic opened the quarter with a 6-2 spurt that cut the lead to 14 at 49-35. Angelini collected an offensive rebound and hit a layup as the shot clock expired to make it a 51-35 game at the 6:19 mark and the Cardinals were unable to get any closer than nine until the final minute of the contest. The Lady Royals made four free throws in the final minute with two apiece from Angelini and sophomore Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) to ice the victory.
For Hartnett, the 20 points came on 8-of-13 shooting (4-of-7 3PT) and eclipses her previous career-best of 16 that had been set in the 2021 Landmark title game victory over Catholic. Ryan tallied her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) added eight points and matched her career-high with 10 boards.
Angelini contributed nine points, four assists and three rebounds.
Keegan Douglas and Anna Scoblick paced the Cardinals with 18 points apiece as the two combined to score 36 of Catholic's 48 points.
Scranton shot 34.7% (17-of-49) from the floor, 33.3% (6-of-18) from long range and 65.4% (17-of-26) from the charity stripe in the contest. Catholic was 17-of-62 (27.4%) from the field, 1-of-22 (4.5%) from beyond the arc and 13-of-18 (72.2%) at the free throw line.
O'Brien's team held a 48-34 edge in the rebounding battle behind Ryan's 12 and Romanowski's 10.
Catholic entered the game as the Landmark's top offense at 76.9 points per game, but this marked the 17th time that the Lady Royals have held an opponents to 50 points or less on the season.
Stay tuned to athletics.scranton.edu and the RoyalAthletics social media accounts on Monday afternoon for more information on the Lady Royals' NCAA Tournament first round foe.
--LADY ROYALS--
