DECEMBER 8, 2011

LADY MONARCH CAGERS DFEAT LYCOMING, 67-31 IN FINAL GAME OF THE SEMESTER

WILLIAMSPORT – The King's College women's basketball team closed out its first semester schedule in a big way as the Lady Monarchs posted a dominating 67-31 road victory over host Lycoming College Thursday night in Lamade Gymnasium in Williamsport.

The Lady Monarchs will now head into fall semester final exams with a fine 7-2 record while Lycoming slipped to 4-3 after seeing its four-game win streak come to an end.

King's opened the game with a 9-0 run after just 3:28, keyed by five points from Lindsay Atchison, a jumper by Marissa Manning and one foul shot each from Samantha Simcox and Paige Carlin. The Lady Monarchs continued to dictate play and extended the lead to 19-4 after four straight points by Manning with 7:48 remaining in the first half.

The lead continued to swell as back-to-back three-pointers by Atchison and Celia Rader pushed the score to 33-11 with 1:01 remaining in the opening stanza. The Warriors then managed to cut the lead to 33-13 at the half on a three-pointer by Rachel Scheller with 0:29 to go.

In the second half the Lady Monarchs continued to pour it on and stretched the lead to 27 points when Rader connected on another three-pointer and Molly Dahl made one-of-two foul shots to push the score to 50-23 with 10:32 left in the contest.

King's reserves kept the Warriors at bay and gave the Lady Monarchs their biggest lead of the day at 34 points when buckets by Nina Magan and Cassie Erdmann and one-of-two free throws by Kyley Henry with 1:30 on the clock elevated the score to 62-28. Erdman drained a three-pointer with 0:25 to play, then added two foul shots with 0:15 remaining to bring the final score to 67-31.

The Lady Monarchs placed 12 different players in the scoring column, led by Rader with 16 points on the strength of 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range. Atchison followed with 10 points while Carlin tallied seven points and four rebounds. Jessica McHugh netted six points with five rebounds while Manning tallied six points with three boards. Erdman and Cassie Flaherty contributed six points each while Simcox chipped in with five points and six rebounds. Defensively, King's forced 29 Lycoming turnovers in the game.

Lycoming failed to have a player reach double-digits as Scheller and Victoria Kowalski netted seven points apiece.

King's will be idle until the Lady Monarchs travel to Whittier, Ca. to compete in the Whittier Invitational December 29-30. The Lady Monarchs will face a severe first-round challenge when King's meets 2011 NCAA Division III "Final Four" qualifier Illinois Wesleyan.