Box Score FEBRUARY 11, 2012

KING'S WOMEN REMAIN UNBEATEN IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE WITH 53-41 WIN OVER MANHATTANVLLE, LADY MONARCH FINISH REGULAR-SEASON 11-0 AT HOME

WILKES-BARRE — All season long,  King's College women's basketball coach Brian Donoghue has preached defense as the key element to his team's success.  That credo never rang truer then on Saturday when the Lady Monarchs shrugged off a horrid offensive showing by using a stifling defensive effort to overcome visiting Manhattanville College 53-41 in the team's final home regular-season game in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 20-3 overall and remained unbeaten in the Freedom Conference with a 12-0 mark.  It was the Lady Monarchs 13th straight victory as King's capped off the regular-season with a perfect 11-0 record on its home floor.  Manhattanville, meanwhile, put forth a gritty effort but fell to 7-15 and 2-10 in league competition.

King's started the game cold and fell behind 8-2 after nearly five minutes of play. The Lady Monarchs slowly battled back and tied the score at 10-10 after a three-pointer by Carlin with 8:33 remaining in the opening stanza. With the game tied at 12-12, the Lady Monarchs used a 7-2 spurt, keyed by a three-pointer by Dahl and a driving lay-up from Brittany Muscatel to build a 19-14 lead with 2:37 on the clock. Manhattanville, however, countered with a 6-0 surge of its own to take a 20-19 lead at the half following a Beranda Felder layup with 0:08 on the clock.

In the second half King's come out of the break with a 5-0 run to take a 24-20 lead after a Samantha Simcox jumper at the 18:47 mark. The Valiants, though, would answer with a 7-0 run of their own to recapture the lead at 27-24 after a with 4:11 remaining in the contest.

The Lady Monarchs would finally begin to get into an offensive flow and responded with a decisive 15-2 run to take a 39-29 lead with 9:18 remaining thanks to back-to-back three-pointers by Simcox and Carlin as well as four points from Katlin Michaels. After a Manhattanville bucket, Simcox buried another three-pointer to push the Lady Monarch advantage to 42-31 with 6:49 on the clock. The Valiants would draw no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

King's defense was outstanding in forcing Manhattanville into a whopping 36 turnovers while the Lady Monarchs coughed the ball up 16 times.  The Lady Monarchs' ability to create turnovers was especially important considering King's shot a pedestrian 24.6 (17-69) percent from the field for the game as well as an equally troubling 44.8 (13-29) percent from the foul. Im addition, the Lady Monarchs were out-rebounded badly by the Valiants to the tune of a 64-46 advantage. Manhattanville struggled almost as much from the floor as King's, connecting on 27.4 (17-62) percent for the game out.

In the end, King's defense proved to be the difference as the Lady Monarchs accounted for 18 steals and six blocked shots. Over the final 20 minutes of the game King's forced 22 Manhattanville turnovers.

King's was paced by senior Paige Carlin who scored 15 points with four rebounds and two steals. Carlin also tallied her 1,000th career point on a three-pointer with 9:27 remaining in the contest.  She entered the game needing 14 points to reach the milestone.

Also for King's, Samantha Simcox netted nine points with four rebounds and three steals; Molly Dahl tallied seven point with six rebounds and two assists; while Katlin Michaels added seven points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals.  Brittany Muscatell contributed six points, eight rebounds, and five steals.

ched the top-seed in the upcoming Freedom Conference playoffs, returns to action Tuesday when the Lady Monarchs travel to Dallas for another league matchup against second-place Misericordia at 6:00 p.m. in the Anderson Center.

KING'S COLLEGE 53, MANHATTANVILLE 41

MANHATTANVILLE (7-15, 2-10)
Courtney Turner 4-15 3-5 11; Kelli Hyjek 4-10 2-3 10; Taylor Wilson 4-13 1-2
10; Alyson Caiazzo 2-2 0-2 4; Beranda Felder 1-2 0-0 2; Leah Dagen 1-6 0-0
2; Nicole Robinson 1-2 0-0 2; Jennifer Mcsharar 0-6 0-0 0; Shayna Robinson
0-0 0-0 0; Dominique Wilson 0-3 0-0 0; Kelly Ann Sullivan 0-1 0-0 0;
Stephanie Vaiano 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-62 6-12 41.
 
KING'S COLLEGE (20-3, 12-0)
Paige Carlin 5-14 2-4 15; Samantha Simcox 3-11 1-2 9; Katlin Michaels 3-12
1-8 7; Molly Dahl 2-4 3-3 7; Brittany Muscatell 1-2 4-4 6; Marissa Manning
2-9 0-2 4; Celia Rader 1-10 0-0 3; Abby Malloy 0-2 2-4 2; Lindsay Atchison
0-2 0-0 0; Ashley Davies 0-1 0-0 0; Nina Magan 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 17-69 13-29
53.
 
Manhattanville................   20   21  -   41
King's College................   19   34  -   53
 
3-point goals--Manhattanville 1-14 (Taylor Wilson 1-6; Leah Dagen 0-2;
Nicole Robinson 0-1; Dominique Wilson 0-1; Kelly Ann Sullivan 0-1; Stephanie
Vaiano 0-2; Courtney Turner 0-1), King's College 6-23 (Paige Carlin 3-5;
Samantha Simcox 2-5; Celia Rader 1-6; Abby Malloy 0-2; Nina Magan 0-2; Molly
Dahl 0-1; Katlin Michaels 0-2). Fouled out--Manhattanville-Kelli Hyjek,
King's College-None. Rebounds--Manhattanville 64 (Courtney Turner 10;
Jennifer Mcsharar 10; Beranda Felder 10), King's College 46 (Brittany
Muscatell 8). Assists--Manhattanville 9 (Stephanie Vaiano 3), King's College
10 (Katlin Michaels 5). Total fouls--Manhattanville 23, King's College 15.
Technical fouls--Manhattanville-None, King's College-None. A-528
Paige Carlin scores 1,000 career point on 3-pointer at 9:27