Box Score
Lady Monarch Basketball Squad Squeezes Out 60-56 Victory at Eastern
St. David's, PA-- Protecting a two-point lead in the final seconds of he game,
Ashley Davies blocked a potential game-winnng three-pointer and
Brittany Muscatell was fouled on the rebound and drained a pair of clutch free throws to ice a 60-56 victory for the King's College women's basketball squad Wednesday night in a clash of the top teams in the Freedom Conference.
With the win the Lady Monarchs have improved to 17-3 and a perfect 9-0 in the Freedom Conference with its 10th straight victory and season series sweep of the Eagles. Eastern falls three games behind King's at 15-5 overall and 6-3 in the conference.
King's started out the game hot, building a 14-6 lead to start the game after a Celia Rader 3-pointer. The Eagles found their stride and tied the game at 18-18 with 7:52 on the clock in the first half courtesy of a 12-2 run. The teams played back and forth the rest of the first half and Eastern took a 29-28 advantage to the locker room.
In the second half the Lady Monarchs built a 34-31 edge with 16:23 to play after
Katlin Michaels hit the back end of a pair of free throws. Eastern bounced back going on an 18-11 spurt as Nowak netted eight points to put the Eagles back on top at 49-45 with 7:32 left in the contest. King's answered with an 11-4 run over the next three minutes, keyed by five points from senior forward
Samantha Simcox to take a 56-53 advantage.
With 4:00 remaining, Eastern's Katie Lincoln connected on a trey to tie the game at 56-56. The teams swapped possessions and missed 3-pointers before
Celia Rader slashed to the hoop and scored to put King's up 58-56 with just 2:50 remaining. The Lady Monarchs defense kept the Eagles off the board the rest of the way, culminating with Davies' huge blocked shot that preserved the win.
Simcox paced the King's offense scoring 15 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go with five rebounds. Michaels added 12 points, seven assists and four boards.
Lindsay Atchison turned in nine points.
Paige Carlin totaled seven points and is now just 51 points away from 1,000 in her career.
Nowak was at the top of the scoring chart for the Eagles netting 21 points and nine rebounds before fouling out in the final seconds. The King's defense held Nowak to just four field goal attempts in the second half. Bekah Roland chipped in 12 points and eight boards for Eastern while Lincoln and Kaitlyn Dougherty each scored 10 points.
The Eagels were 22-of-53 from the floor, but King's held Eastern to 2-of-18 shooting from beyond the arc. King's also won the turnover battle giving the ball away 12 times while forcing 19 Eagle turnovers. It also marked the 10th straight game King's held its opponent to 56 or fewer points.
The Lady Monarchs continue their Freedom Conference schedule Saturday when the squad travels to FDU-Florham for a 1:00 p.m. tip.
