Postgame Press Conference
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The University of Scranton women's basketball team (28-2) limited Johns Hopkins (26-4) to 28.6% shooting from the floor and outscored by the Blue Jays by an 18-11 margin in the fourth quarter en route to a 65-53 victory in NCAA Sweet 16 action on Friday evening at the Paulson Center in New York City.
With the victory, Scranton advances to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019 and the 16th time in program history. The Lady Royals will take on the winner of host NYU and Hardin-Simmons for a spot in the Final Four on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
Senior Maddy Ryan (Malvern, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) sank a jumper to give Scranton a 51-44 edge with 7:54 to play and that score would hold for the next three plus minutes until fellow senior Maddie Hartnett (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) buried a three at the 4:05 mark to make it a 54-44 game.
Johns Hopkins used a three-point play to cut the lead to five at 56-51 with 1:13 remaining, but the Lady Royals calmly sank 9-of-10 from the free throw line down the stretch to ice the victory.
Ryan scored the first six points of the game for Scranton who led 12-8 at the 2:29 mark of the first quarter and graduate student Hannah Angelini (Baldwin Place, N.Y./Somers) sank a jumper in the final minute of the period that helped make it a 16-12 edge after one. In the second quarter, the Lady Royals led 22-17 when Hartnett connected on a three to ignite a 12-5 run over the remainder of the period and freshman Katie Gorski (Pine Brook, N.J./Montville Township) capped the run with two free throws in the final minute for a 34-22 lead at the break.
Head coach Ben O'Brien's team scored seven of the first nine points in the third quarter and Ryan's jumper extended the lead to 41-24 with 8:16 left in the third quarter. However, this was where the Blue Jays began to battle back and closed the stanza on an 18-6 run over the final eight plus minutes as Macie Feldman's jumper in the final minute cut the deficit to five at 47-42. After each team traded baskets in the first minute of the quarter and Ryan's afore-mentioned jumper made it 51-44 for the time being, the Lady Royals were able to hold on down the stretch and advance to the Elite Eight.
Ryan led all scorers with a season-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and also added 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Sophomore Kaci Kranson (Scranton, Pa./Holy Cross) contributed 15 points and nine boards, while Hartnett tallied 12 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Hartnett has now scored in double figures in each of her last six games.
Elsewhere for Scranton, sophomore Kaeli Romanowski (Lake Ariel, Pa./Western Wayne) added five points, a season-high eight assists, five steals and three boards.
Michaela O'Neil had 13 points to pace Hopkins in the setback and the Lady Royals held leading scorer Elisabeth Peebles (12.1 ppg) to four points on 1-of-8 shooting.
The Lady Royals shot 38.1% (24-of-63) from the floor, 20.0% (3-of-15) from deep and 87.5% (14-of-16) at the charity stripe. They held the Blue Jays to 18-of-63 (28.6%) from the field and 3-of-16 (18.8%) from long range.
Scranton held a slight 44-40 edge on the glass behind Ryan's 10 boards and Kranson's nine.
Click the following links for live video and live stats of Saturday's game.
--LADY ROYALS--
