Box Score JANUARY 14, 2012
DEFENSE RULES AS KING'S DOWNS EASTERN 70-55, MOVES INTO SOLE POSSESSION OF 1ST PLACE IN FREEDOM
WILKES-BARRE — As the King's College women's basketball team prepared to face Eastern University in a battle of the lone unbeaten teams in the Freedom Conference, Lady Monarch head coach Brian Donoghue preached defense as the key to victory. Donoghue proved to be a prophet as King's put forth arguably its best defensive effort of the season in a 70-55 victory over the Eagles.
With the win, King's moves into sole possession of first place in the Freedom Conference as the Lady Monarchs improved to 11-3 overall and 4-0 in league play. Eastern, meanwhile, saw its five-game win streak come to an end as the Eagles slipped to 11-3 and 3-1 in the Freedom Conference.
Eastern entered the game atop the Freedom Conference and ranked 13th nationally in Division III with a 75.8 points per-game average while King's allowed just 59.2 each contest.
The first half featured eight lead changes and 10 ties. With Eastern holding a 23-24 lead after a Shante Jones jumper, the Lady Monarchs closed out the half with a 6-1 surge. A driving lay-up from
Samantha Simcox, a short jumper by
Marissa Manning, and another jumper by Simcox enabled King's to take a 29-25 lead at the break. Eastern entered the contest with a first-half average of 36.2 points but the Lady Monarch defense kept the Eagles in check, forcing 13 turnovers over the games' opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, King's started with a 8-2 surge and built a 37-27 lead at the 14:31 mark after a pair of foul shots from
Lindsay Atchison and a lay-up by
Brittany Muscatell. Eastern would later whittle the lead to four points when a Basket by Bekah Roland trimmed the King's advantage to 40-36 with 11:43 to play.
King's, however, reasserted itself, using a traditional three-point play by
Celia Rader, a short jumper from
Katlin Michaels, and then an NBA range three-point bomb by Rader to push the score to 48-38 with 9:57 on the clock. After an Eastern bucket, King's added to its lead on an inside basket by Atchison, one-of-two free throws from Michaels, and another three-pointer by Rader to give King's its biggest lead of the game at 54-40 with 9:40 on the clock.
Eastern, however, would not fold as the Eagles countered with a 9-2 spurt to close to 56-49 on a Jones jumper with 5:4-0 to go. But Kings would not be denied as the Lady Monarchs aggressively attacked the basket. Muscatell was fouled an made both foul shots. After an Eastern turnover,
Paige Carlin was fouled driving to the basket and canned both charity tosses to push the score to 60-49 at 5:11. The Eagles cut the lead to 62-53 with 3:01 remaining, but King's used six straight points by Michaels on back-to-back driving lay-ups and a pair of foul shots to build a 68-53 lead with 1:28 left. Manning then iced the game on a jumper with 0:43 to play to King's took a 70-53 lead.
King's placed four players in double-figures scoring, led by Rader with 18 points, three rebounds, and three three-pointers. Michaels enjoyed an outstanding all-around game with 15 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Simcox finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points with a game-high 1 rebounds while Manning tallied 10 points and four boards. Muscatell finished with six points, four rebounds, and two assist while Atchison chipped in with six points.
The Lady Monarchs did an admirable job on Eastern's outstanding freshman center Meaghan Nowak who entered the game averaging 21.2 points and 9.8 rebounds. Nowak finished the game with 18 points and nine boards but did not dominate the game as she had Wednesday night with a 30-point, 12-rebound effort against Misericordia. Jones, a pre-season all-American who averaged over 20 points per-game a yea ago, finished with 13 points, six rebounds, and five assists but committed seven turnovers. No other Eastern player scored over seven points. Overall, King's forced Eastern into 23 turnovers, nearly seen more than the Eagles 16.4 turnovers per-game average.
King's returns to action on Monday when the Lady Monarchs travel to LaPlume to face Keystone College Monday at 7:00 p.m. King's will then host cross-town rival Wilkes University Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gymnasium.
KING'S COLLEGE 70, EASTERN 55
EASTERN (11-3, 3-1)
Meghan Nowak 8-14 2-2 18; Shante Jones 6-13 1-3 13; Kaitlyn Dougherty 2-5 2-4 7; Bekah Roland 2-7 2-2 6; Katie Lincoln 2-5 0-0 6; Kaleigh Boreman 2-10 0-0 5; Lori Wileczek 0-0 0-0 0; Gina DiDomenico 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 7-11 55.
KING'S COLLEGE (11-3, 4-0)
Celia Rader 6-10 3-3 18;
Katlin Michaels 6-11 3-4 15;
Samantha Simcox 4-10 2-2 10;
Marissa Manning 4-12 1-3 10;
Lindsay Atchison 2-7 2-2 6;
Brittany Muscatell 2-6 2-2 6;
Paige Carlin 0-3 4-4 4;
Ashley Davies 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 24-59 18-22 70.
Eastern............................ 25 30 - 55
King's College................ 29 41 - 70
3-point goals--Eastern 4-17 (Katie Lincoln 2-4; Kaleigh Boreman 1-8; Kaitlyn Dougherty 1-3; Shante Jones 0-1; Meghan Nowak 0-1), King's College 4-16 (
Celia Rader 3-5;
Marissa Manning 1-2;
Samantha Simcox 0-3;
Lindsay Atchison 0-3;
Brittany Muscatell 0-2;
Paige Carlin 0-1). Fouled out--Eastern-None,King's College-None. Rebounds--Eastern 38 (Meghan Nowak 9), King's College 37 (
Samantha Simcox 11). Assists--Eastern 18 (Shante Jones 5), King'sCollege 13 (
Katlin Michaels 4). Total fouls--Eastern 15, King's College 13. Technical fouls--Eastern-None, King's College-None. A-250
