Box Score

FEBRUARY 25, 2012

KING'S WOMEN FALL TO MISERICORDIA IN FREEDOM CONFERENCE TITLE GAME, 64-54

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College women's basketball team picked the absolute worst day to suffer one of its poorest shooting efforts of the season as the host and top-seeded Lady Monarchs fell to Misericordia University 64-54 in the Freedom Conference game Saturday afternoon in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, Misericordia improved to 17-10 and receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III National Tournament. King's which suffered its first home loss of the season after going 13-0 in Scandlon Gym, fell to 22-5 and must now await word on a possible NCAA tournament at-large berth King's entered the title game ranked third in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

King's came out of the gates and built a quick 10-5 lead after five straight points from Paige Carlin. The Cougars battled back and took a 12-11 lead following a pair of foul shots from Christine Marks and a jumper from Katie Drayton. King's would forge a 16-14 following a three-pointer by Carlin but the Cougars answered with a  6-0 surge to take a 20-16 advantage with 8:03 remaining. King's then countered with a 5-1 spurt to tie the score at 21-21 on a jumper by Samantha Simcox at the 6:15 mark.

From there, Misericordia used a layup from Hannah Seely, back-to-back three-pointers by Tyann McDaniel and Jesse Robinson, and one-of-two foul shots to close out the half with a 9-0 run, taking a 30-21 lead into the halftime break. The Cougars  shot 43.5 (10-23) percent from the floor in the first half while King's hit on only 36.8 (7-19) percent from the field and made 50.0 (4-8) from three-point range.  King's struggled from the outside, making just 36.8 (7-19) percent from the floor and 28.6 (2-7) from three-point range.

In the second half Misericordia stretched the lead to 11 points when Marks scored down low to set the score at 32-21.  King's answered with five straight points and closed the gap to 32-26 with 16:28 to play after a driving lay-up by Simcox.   The Cougars, though responded with a 6-0 run of their own to build the lead to 38-26 at the 12:56 mark after a three-pointer by McDaniel and one-of-two free throws by Drayton.  After Carlin scored for King's to cut the lead to 38-28, Misericordia scored six straight points to push the lead to 44-28 with 10:57left after consecutive baskets by Seely and Caitlin Kessler.

King's was unable to come within 10 points until 1:55 when Katlin Michaels made a pair of foul shots to bring the Lady Monarchs to within 57-47. King's managed to cut the lead to nine points when a Marissa Manning basket with 1:07 to play trimmed the lad to 58-49 but King's would come no closer the rest of the way.

The Lady Monarchs shot just 24.1 (7-29) percent in the second half and just 14.3 (2-14) percent from three-point range.  For the game, King's connected on just 29.2 (14-48) percent from the floor, 19.0 (4-21) percent from three-point range, and made only 61.1 (22-36) of its shots from the foul line.  Defensively, King's forced 24 turnovers while committing 15 but the Cougars shot the ball extremely well, connecting on 48.8 (21-41) percent of its shots. Misericordia also controlled the boards, out-rebounding King's 38-24, including 17 offensive rebounds.

Carlin led King's with 17 points and five rebounds while Brittany Muscatell added 12 points and four assists, Michaels netted eight points, six steals, and three assists before fouling out while Simcox contributed six points, four rebounds, and four assists.

McDaniel, who was named Freedom Conference Tournament most valuable player, scored 15 points with a trio of three-pointers and four assists. Marks followed with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Lauren Smicherko added nine points off the bench while Hannah Seeley and Katie Drayton contributed eight points each. Jesse Robinson tallied seven points, seven rebounds, and four assists.

King's will now wait for the NCAA Division III national tournament field to be announced. The NCAA selection show is slated for Monday at 2:30 p.m.