DECEMBER 15, 2008
LADY MONARCHS POST 66-63 COMEBACK WIN OVER ALVERNIA
WILKES-BARRE – Kaitlyn Fiorino scored a season-high 31 points and Brittany Muscatell scored five straight points in the final minute as the King's College women's basketball team posted a 66-63 come-from-behind victory over visiting Alvernia University Monday in Scandlon Gym.
With the win, King's improved to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in Freedom Conference play while Alvernia slipped to 4-4 and 1-2 in league games.
Alvernia controlled much of the first half en route to taking a 31-22 lead into the break. In the second half, the Crusaders continued to build on their lead and took a 40-26 advantage with 16:35 left in the contest when Kelli McIntyre scored seven straight points.
King's would slowly whittle down the lead and closed to within 48-44 after a layup by Fiorino and one-of-two foul shots form Paige Carlin. After Alvernia bumped the lead back up to 52-44 on a short jump shot by Alexandra Velazquez, the Lady Monarchs responded with a 8-4 surge to tie the game at 56-56 on a traditional three-point play by Fiorino.
After Alvernia took a 57-56 lead, King's captured its first lead since the 14:12 mark of the first half when Muscatell canned two foul shots to put the Lady Monarchs on top 58-57 with 4:55 on the clock. After the teams traded baskets King's used one-of-two foul shots by Julianna Lynott to knot the score at 61-61 with 1:43 left in the contest.
After the teams traded misses, Muscatell delivered a clutch three-pointer from the left wing to give the Lady Monarchs a 64-61 lead with 0:28 on the clock. After Joanna Graber made two foul shots for the Crusaders with 0:28 remaining, Muscatell answered with two foul shots of her own to push the score to 66-63 with 0:10 left. Alvernia had an opportunity to tie the game but McIntyre was called for a travel with 0:06 on the clock to enable King's to seal the victory.
Fiorino was 10-of-25 from the floor but made five three-pointers and six-of-seven foul shots. She also tallied eight rebounds and two steals. Carlin added 12 points and five rebounds while Muscatell finished the night with seven points, four rebounds, and two assists.
King's also performed admirably on defense, holding Alvernia well below the 80.1 points per-game average the Crusaders owned entering the game.
King's returns to action Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. at Misericordia University in Dallas.
KING'S COLLEGE 66, ALVERNIA 63
ALVERNIA (4-4, 1-2 Freedom)
Kelli McIntyre 8-22 3-6 22; Alexandra Velazquez 4-11 8-10 16; AllisonToczylowski 3-5 0-0 6; Michelle Lutzkanin 2-5 0-0 6; Julie Hahn 1-5 2-2 5; CeCe Buzzard 2-7 0-0 4; Joanna Graber 0-2 3-4 3; Lil Snyder 0-3 1-2 1; Ana Nieves 0-0 0-0 0; Kayla Long 0-0 0-0 0; Rachel Koerner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-60 17-24 63.
KING'S COLLEGE (3-5, 2-1 Freedom)
Alvernia........................... 31 32 - 63
King's College.................. 22 44 - 66
Rebounds--Alvernia 44 (Alexandra Velazquez 13), King's College 45 (Julianna Lynott 13). Assists--Alvernia 11 (Kelli McIntyre 3; Joanna Graber 3), King's College 11 (Kristen Baumes 3). Total fouls--Alvernia 24, King's College 17. Technical fouls--Alvernia-None, King's College-None. A-150
