NOVEMBER 21, 2011
LADY MONARCHS, SCRANTON BASKETBALL TEAMS CONTINUING RIVALRY TUESDAY NIGHT
WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College women's basketball team will return to the court on Tuesday with its final game before Thanksgiving break when the Lady Monarchs host the University of Scranton at 7:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gymnasium.
Those unable to attend can follow the action on LiveStats at:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/kings/wbball/index.htm
WRKC 88.5 FM will also broadcast the game and will provide a live voice-stream over the Internet at:
http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html
From the mid-1990's through the 2006-07 season, the King's College vs. University of Scranton women's basketball rivalry was arguably one of the most intense and competitive in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The teams played for the 2007 MAC Freedom Conference championship, a game won by the Lady Royals, then, at a moment's noticed, the rivalry ended.
Scranton left the Middle Atlantic Conferences for the newly former Landmark Conference in a highly controversial move, severing ties with long-time conference rivals such as King's and cross-town neighbor Wilkes. Gone were the home-and-away series' that both King's and Scranton fans had come to welcome. In fact the teams stopped scheduling one another altogether.
After a three-year hiatus, King's and Scranton squared off last season and will do so again Tuesday night with hopes of rekindling the magic the two programs had created for a more than a decade. The question is, can the rivalry be restored to anything near the level it one was?
It is now five years since Scranton left the MAC and sadly, there are few, if any students at King's or Scranton who were around for the heyday of the rivalry, or even when the teams played for the conference championship on a cool winter night February 23, 2007. Back in the glory days of the rivalry, students at both schools made for large crowds, often times larger than crowds for the King's-Scranton men's games. Hopefully for both schools, that will change - but it may take time.
Last year's game at Scranton's John Long Center was won by the Lady Royals, but a crowd of only 350 people showed up to watch the long-time rivals renew their rivalry. Now, a year later, the programs meet again with the an eye on rebuilding what once was, although getting the rivalry back to what is once was will be difficult without the teams playing twice a year with home and away games on each other's court.
"We (King's and Scranton) are looking to make this a yearly non-conference game, " King's coach Brian Donoghue stated. "It makes sense on all levels considering the proximity of both schools. It will be good for the local women's basketball scene and we would love for it to be a game that people look forward to each year."
King's stands at 2-1 on the year after finishing second at the Rutgers-Newark Invitational Tournament over the weekend. The Lady Monarchs defeated New York Polytechnic 70-58 in the opener before falling to host Rutgers-Newark 49-42. Scranton, meanwhile, is 1-2 after finishing third in the Gwynedd-Mercy College Invitational over the weekend. The Lady Royals dropped a 53-48 decision to Delaware Valley in its opener before defeating Lycoming 66-55 in the consolation game.
King's has been paced by the play of senior small forward
Samantha Simcox who has averaged 16.0 points and 12.7 rebounds per-game. Junior guard
Katlin Michaels follows with 12.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists each contest. Senior guard-forward
Paige Carlin adds 12.0 points and 2.0 rebounds while junior guard
Celia Rader adds 8.3 points and 2.3 rebounds while freshman center-forward
Marissa Manning chips in with 6.3 points and 5.3 boards.
Sophomore guard Alison Sweeney tops the squad with averages of 14.7 points and 2.7 rebounds. Junior forward Erin Boggan follows with 8.0 points and 10.7 rebounds. Junior Katherine Torto adds 8.3 points and 4.7 boards while freshman guard Lindsay Fluehr contributes 6.7 points and 2.7 rebounds. Junior guard Christina Hiltunen chips in with 6.0 points ands 2.0 boards.
