NOVEMBER 19, 2012
KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TRAVELING TO FACE PERENNIAL-POWER SCRANTON
WILKES-BARRE — The King's College women's basketball team face another major early-season non-conference test when the Lady Monarchs travel 20 miles north on Interstate 81 to face perennial Division III stalwart University of Scranton Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. in the John Long Center.
Vide Webstream:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/university-of-scranton-athletics
LiveStats are available at:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/scranton/
The game will mark the third meeting between the teams since Scranton left the Middle Atlantic Conferences following the 2006-07 season. The teams split the two previous meetings as Scranton won 87-49 on its home court in 2010-11 before King's countered with a 65-60 early-season home victory a year ago.
Both teams enter the contest with 2-0 records after winning their respective season opening tournaments. King's, which reached the NCAA Division III National Tournament Sweet 16 last season, opened the 2012-13 campaign by winning the Scotty Wood Invitational at Muhlenberg College. The Lady Monarchs defeated Mt. Aloysius 79-65 in the opener before downing fellow 2012 NCAA national qualifier Muhlenberg 73-69 in the title game.
King's will be banking on the experience of its three senior players – point guard
Katlin Michaels, shooting guard
Celia Rader, and forward
Lindsay Atchison. Rader led the team in scoring at the Scotty Wood Invitational with a two-game average of 24.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals while making 11 three-pointers to earn all-tournament honors. Michaels was named tournament most valuable player for her all-around game as she tallied 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 8.0 assists.
The 6-foot Atchison also enjoyed a solid tournament with averages of 12.0 points and 8.5 rebounds while 6-foot Manning also played very well by averaging 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks. Sophomore guard
Ashley Davies chipped in with 7.0 points and 8.5 boards.
Scranton, meanwhile, won the team title at a very competitive University of Rochester Invitational. The Lady Royals defeated St. John Fisher 65-58 in the first round before downing host Rochester 61-45 in the finals.
The Lady Royals are a much different team than they were in the last meeting with King's as they have now been able to fully integrate a pair of 6-foot-1 Division I transfers who joined the team last season. Erin Boggan transferred to Scranton from Division I Gardner-Webb and became more comfortable in the Scranton system as the season progressed. She finished the year averaging 10.2 points and 8.0 rebounds and was a second-team All-Landmark Conference choice.
Meredith Mesaris is a sophomore who transferred to Scranton from American University in January and played the second semester with the Lady Royals. Mesaris played in 12 games after transferring but led the team with averages of 14.2 points and 4.8 rebounds.
After the first two games this season, Boggan tops the squad with 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per-game while Mesaris follows with 15.5 points and 3.0 boards with four three-pointers.
Alison Sweeney a 5-11 junior guard, also enjoyed an outstanding season with averages of 10.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, with 50 three-pointers and was a first-team All-Landmark Conference selection.
After facing Scranton the Lady Monarchs will break for Thanksgiving before returning to the court Monday to host Gwynedd-Mercy College at 6:00 p.m. in King's home debut in Scandlon Gym.
