Box Score

JANUARY25, 2012

KING'S WOMEN EDGE MISERICORDIA TO REMAIN PERFECT IN LEAGUE PLAY, LADY MONARCHS NOW HAVE TWO GAME LEAD ON REST OF FIELD

WILKES-BARRE --  The King's College women's basketball overcame a two-point halftime deficit by conducting a second-half defensive clinic as the Lady Monarchs posted a critical 51-44 Freedom Conference victory over visiting Misericordia University Wednesday night in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 15-3 overall and 7-0 in the Freedom Conference while Misericordia slipped to 9-8 and 5-2 in league competition. The Cougars entered the contest just one game behind King's in the conference standings and would have forged a first-place tie with the victory. But King's win enabled the Lady Monarchs to now build a two-game lead over the second-place squads DeSales, Eastern, and Misericordia.

The game was a defensive struggle as King's managed a 13-10 lead with 12:42 remaining in the opening stanza on a bucket by Paige Carlin. After Misericordia took a 14-12 lead, King's used a pair of foul shots from Ashley Davies and a jumper by Carlin to build a 17-14 lead with 10:28 on the clock. King's eventually built its biggest lead of the half at 21-16 at 8:23 when Marissa Manning canned a short jumper, but the Cougars rattled off eight straight points to capture a 24-21 lead with 6:15 to go after a three-pointer by Jesse Robinson.  After a Misericordia bucket, Maning tied the game for the seventh time when her inside basket pushed the score to 27-27 at 1:40.  Robinson countered with a jumper of her own at 1:40 as Misericordia took a 29-27 lead into the break.

The Cougars quickly extended the lead to 31-27 on the first possession of the second half when Christine Marks canned a jumper.  But King's defense stepped up and would hold the Cougars scoreless for the next 7:41 of the game. The Lady Monarchs also responded and King's eventually took a 36-34 lead on a pair of foul shots from Carlin and a traditional three-point play from Samantha Simcox. Following a Cougar turnover, King's used a driving layup by Katlin Michaels to push the score to 41-34 with 10:45 to play.

From there both teams failed to score during the next three minutes but King's broke through first when Lindsay Atchison's bucket elevated the lead to 43-34 at the 7:07 mark.  The Cougars finally scored their first basket since the 13:29 mark when Hannah Seeley canned a short jumper to cut the lead to 45-36 with 5:25 on the clock. But King's answered on a Davies basket down low to push the lead to nine points at 45-36 with 5:25 remaining.

But the Cougars would not fold and clawed back to within 45-44 after back-to-back three-pointers from Lauren Smicherko and Marks  to cut the King's lead to 45-44 with 2:49 to play. The Lady Monarchs, however, used a bucket by Manning for a 47-44 lead at 2:29. After the teams traded misses and turnovers on the next four possession, King's put the game away when Carlin was fouled and converted both free throws with 0:20 left, followed by two more foul shots by Celia Rader with 0:12 to go.

King's used a balanced attack to gain the win as Carlin finished with 10 points and five rebounds; Manning tallied 10 points and four boards, while Simcox netted 10 points with five rebounds and two steals.  Michaels contributed five points, seven rebounds, and seven assists while Atchison also chipped in with five points

Misericordia took its first-half lead after shooting 45.8 (11-24) percent from the first half while canning 5-of-14 three-pointers. King's changed up its zone defense in the second half and did a much better job of crowding the Cougar shooters.  Misericordia would then shoot just 28.6 (6-21) percent in the second half, including only 25.0 (2-8) in the second stanza.  Robinson, who scored 11 points in the first half, was limited to just one in the second half to finish with 12 points. Tyann McDaniel added 10 first-half points but was held scoreless over the final 20 minutes of play.

King's did an admirable defensive job against Marks, the reigning Freedom Conference "Player of the Year" Marks entered the game averaging nearly 21 points and 10 rebounds per-game but was held to 11 points and 10 rebounds but was forced into 10 turnovers in the game. Misericordia as a team was forced into 24 turnovers while King's committed just 14.

King's returns home Saturday with another big Freedom Conference game as defending champion DeSales invades Scandlon Gym for a 1:00 p.m. matchup.

The game will be preceded by King's annual Women's Basketball Alumni Game at 10:00 a.m.