SCRANTON, Pa. – The University of Scranton women's basketball team (26-2) held Framingham State (24-3) to 25.0% shooting from the floor and notched a 60-39 victory over the Rams in NCAA Tournament First Round action on Friday night at the John Long Center in Scranton.
The two sides were tied at 11 apiece at the end of the first before the Lady Royals outscored the Rams by an 18-8 margin in the second quarter and never looked back.
Scranton advances to play Ohio Northern in a Second Round matchup on Saturday night at 7:45 p.m.
Framingham St. led 11-7 with just over four minutes to play in the first quarter when graduate student Kyra Quigley (Drexel Hill, Pa./Sacred Heart Academy Bryn Mawr) hit a layup and senior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) sank a jumper to force the 11-all deadlock after one. In the second quarter, graduate student Hannah Angelini (Baldwin Place, N.Y./Somers) opened the scoring with a three and the Lady Royals held an 18-13 edge after a pair of free throws from Ryan. Later in the period, the hosts clung to a 22-19 lead when senior Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) buried a jumper and Scranton scored seven straight points over the final 2:46 as Angelini's late jumper made it a 29-19 game at the break.
Ryan hit a layup to open the third quarter which ignited a 14-2 run that included a pair of threes from Hartnett that extended the lead to 43-21 with 3:06 left in the period. Freshman Meghan Lamanna (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) sank a three with just over a minute to play in the quarter and the Lady Royals led 46-28 after three. Scranton quickly scored eight of the first 10 points in the fourth and a pair of free throws by Ryan opened up a 52-30 advantage at the 7:16 mark. The Rams were unable to get any closer than 17 the rest of the way and were held to just two points over the final 4:37 of regulation.
Ryan and sophomore Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) led the way offensively with 12 points apiece, while Hartnett added 10 points and Angelini contributed eight points, four assists, three rebounds and three blocks.
Elsewhere for Scranton, sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) tallied seven points, four assists and four steals.
Flannery O'Connor led the Rams with 12 points and 15 rebounds, though Scranton held her to 3-of-17 shooting from the field.
Head coach Ben O'Brien's team shot 32.8% (21-of-64) from the floor, 33.3% (9-of-27) from deep and 90.0% (9-of-10) at the free throw line. Framingham St. was limited to 12-of-48 (25.0%) from the field and 1-of-11 (9.1%) from long range.
Quigley led the Lady Royals on the glass with eight boards.
Click the following links for live video and live stats of Saturday's game.
--LADY ROYALS--
