NOVEMBER 16, 2012

KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL WINS OPENER 79-65 OVER MT. ALOYSIUS

ALLENTOWN — The King's College women's basketball team overcame an early 19-point deficit but rebounded by placing five players in double-figures scoring as the Lady Monarchs rallied for a 79-65 victory over Mt. Aloysius College in its season-opener in the first-round the Scotty Wood Invitational Tournament Friday at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

King's, an NCAA Division III National Tournament Sweet 16 qualifier a year ago, came slowly out of the gates while the Mounties played outstanding. Mt. Aloysius built a 9-4 lead after four minutes of play following a Becky Bard jumper. After King's cut the lead to 9-4 after a pair of foul shots from Celia Rader, the Mounties exploded for a 14-2 run and stretched the lead to 25-6 with 10:46 remaining in the first half.

The Lady Monarchs woke up down 19 and slowly began to chip away. A bucket by Ashley Davies and consecutive three-pointers from Rader and Marissa Manning cut the lead to 25-14 with 8:08 on the clock. Manning then followed with a traditional three-point play to trim the lead to 25-17 at the 7:38 mark.

After a 4-2 spurt by the Mounties, Manning scored inside and Rader connected on another three-pointer to bring the Lady Monarchs to within 29-24 with 5:10 on the clock. King's closed out the rest of the half with a 13-9 spurt, keyed by nine straight points from Rader and a pair of foul shots by Manning with 0:02 on the clock as the Lady Monarchs closed to within 38-37 at the halftime break.

In the second half, the teams played on even terms until a Lindsey Sammarco bucket ignited a 4-1 Mountie spurt to give Mt. Aloysius a 54-49 lead with 10:31 remaining. But King's countered with a 8-2 run, keyed by four points each from Katlin Michaels and Lindsay Atchison as King's took the lead for good at 57-56 with 9:09 left in the contest.

With King's leading 61-60 with 4:54 left, the Lady Monarchs went on a critical 11-0 run thanks to an inside basket by Manning, a three-pointer from Molly Dahl and three straight lay-ups from Rader, Davies, and Atchison as the Lady Monarchs pushed the score to 72-60 wutg 1:22 to go.

After a Mountie bucket, King's sealed the victory by hitting seven of 10 free throws over the final 1:06 of the game.

King's outrebounded Mt. Aloysius 53-41 and forced 22 Mountie turnovers. Rader paced King's with 25 points, including 6-of-12 three-pointers, and pulled down six rebounds. Atchison followed with 15 points, six rebounds, and three assists while Manning added 12 points and seven boards. Michaels contributed 11 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds while Dahl tallied 10 points and four boards. Davies chipped in with six points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

The Mounties were paced by Sammarco with 17 points while Bard netted 17.

King's will play for the championship Saturday at 6:00 p.m. against the winner of the Centenary-Muhlenberg matchup. Like King's, Muhlenberg was also an NCAA national tournament qualifier a year ago.

The LiveStats link for the game will be: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/wbblive/xlive.htm

King's will then return to the court Tuesday at the University of Scranton.