Box Score

MARCH 9, 2012

KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FALLS TO EMMANUEL IN SWEET 16
 
AMHERST, MA – The King's College women's basketball team endured one of its poorest shooting efforts of the season and saw its dream of reaching the NCAA Division III “Final Four” come to an end. The Lady Monarchs shot less than 22 percent from the field Friday night as King's fell to Emmanuel College 67-56 in the Sweet 16 at Lafrak Gymnasium on the campus of Amherst College, Amherst, MA.

With the win, Emmanuel improved to 25-6 and advances to the NCAA Elite Eight. King's saw its outstanding season come to an end with a 24-6 mark, equaling the school-record for single-season victories.
 
King's took a 2-0 lead when Celia Rader and Marissa Manning each made one-of-two foul shots. After a bucket by Emmanuel, Rader drained a three-pointer to put the Lady Monarchs on top 5-2  King's later built a 7-4 advantage after a Samantha Simcox bucket at the 14:15 mark. 
 
Emmauel followed with a 8-8 spurt, capped by an inside basket by Chenae Earl to give the Saints a12-7 lead after 10:32. Following a basket by Ashley Davies which cut the score to 12-9, Vanessa Bramante countered for Emmanuel with a basket to forge a 14-9 Saint lead with 8:21 remaining in the opening stanza. After a King's timeout Fiona O'Dwyer and Meghan Kirwan scored back-to-back inside baskets for Emmanuel to push the lead to 18-9 at 6:34.

King's finally got back on the scoreboard when Manning made one-of-two shots from the charity stripe to trim the lead to 18-10. After an Emmanuel turnover, Katlin Michaels and Rader scored back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 18-14 with 5:17 on the clock. The Lady Monarchs then forced another turnover and Simcox scored on a beautiful inside feed from Michaels to bring King's within 18-16 with 4:54 left in the opening stanza.
 
Leni Negri gave the Saints a 19-16 lead with one-of-two foul shots at 4:35. Manning answered for King's with a basket at 2:28 to knot the score at 19-19. The Saints responded with a bucket, then two foul shots on consecutive possessions to push the score to 23-19 with 1:42 left in the half.  Simcox then scored for King's on an offensive rebound and put-back but Emmanuel answered with an O'Dwyer bucket to up the lead to 25-21 with 1:01 to go. After a King's miss, the Saints took a 27-21 lead at the half on a Negi inside basket with 0:06 on the clock.

King's managed to get plenty of good shots in the first half but struggled mightily, connecting on just 18.6 (8-43) percent from the floor and only 8.3 (1-12) percent from three-point range. The Lady Monarchs were able to get to the foul line with its attacking offense but were unable to take advantage, hitting on only 26.7 (4-15) percent from the charity stripe.  King's forced Emmanuel into 16 first-half turnovers but also failed to capitalize with its shooting struggles.  O'Dwyer scored 12 first-half points for Emmanuel while Simcox and Rader tallied six point each for King's.

In the second half Emmanuel built the lead to 29-21 after a Dwyer bucket, but King's responded with a 9-1 run thanks to a five points from Manning and a bucket by Simcox to trim the lead to 30-28 with 17:44 left in the contest.
 
The Saints, though, countered with a 12-4 spurt to push the score to 42-32 with 13:55 left. King's looked to battle back and Manning scored again inside to trim the lead to 42-34 but Emmanuel answered right back on its next possession with a Kirwan lay-up to push the lead back to 10 (44-34) at the 13:17 mark.

With Emmanuel holding a 49-38 lead, Simcox hit one-of-two foul shots for King's to bring the score to 49-39. A pair of foul shots from Manning and a steal and basket by Ashley Davies cut the lead to 49-43 with 8:54 to play. Simcox added  two more foul shots with 8:23 on the clock to bring the Lady Monarchs to within 49-46.

O'Dwyer scored for Emmanuel but Manning made two foul shots to set the score at 51-47 with 6:31
left. Kirwan converted one-of-two foul shots for the Saints for a 52-47 lead with 6:13 left but Rader answered for King's with two foul shots of her own to cut the lead to 52-49 with 5:59 on the clock. King's continued to battle back and, after a steal, Brittany Muscatell hit two more free throws to bring the Lady Monarchs to within 52-51 with 5:46 to play.

King's forced another turnover and Manning was fouled and made one-of-two shots to tie the game at 52-52 with 5:28 left. The Lady Monarchs forced yet another turnover and Manning was fouled underneath but missed both shots with 4:56 to play.

After a Saint turnover Michaels was fouled and made both attempts to tie the score at 54-54 with 3:55 to play, but Emmanuel countered with a three-pointer by Laura Benvenuto to give the Saints at 57-54 lead with 3:32 remaining.

Following a King's miss, O'Dwyer scored down low for Emmauel, pushing the lead to 59-54 with 2:02 on the clock.
 
Simcox then scored on a short jumper for King's to cut the score to 59-56 with 1:49 remaining. After Michaels fouled out of the game with 1:43 left, Kirwan made two free throw attempts for a 61-56 Emmanuel lead. After another Lady Monarch miss, Bria Tiro scored on a lay-up to up the score to 63-56 with 1:24 to go.

After the teams traded turnover, Emmanuel put the game away when Negri scored on a lay-up 0:36 to play. Muscatell was then fouled and missed both shots with 0:25 on the clock.

With King's forced to foul Kirwan made two more free throws at 0:16 as the Saints moved on to the Elite Eight.
 
“We were real aggressive, attacked the rim, and got to the foul line. We just couldn't finish our shots,” King's head coach Brian Donoghue stated. “We showed a lot of heart in being down double-digits twice in the second half and coming back. We have done it before and believed we could do it again. It took a lot of energy to battle back like we did and it is a shame we struggled with our shooting to put us in that position. I am really pround of the effort we gave today. We executed our game plan extremely well, we just couldn't get the ball in the basket.”
 
King's finished the game shooting only 21.8 (17-78) percent from the field and made just 9.5 (2-21) percent from three-point range. But perhaps most costly to King's was foul shooting as King's converted just 52.6 (20-38) percent from the charity stripe.

Manning finished with a career-high 21 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Lady Monarchs while Simcox added 13 points and nine boards. Michaels had seven points, 12 rebounds, and five assists to aid King's. King's had only six players reach the scoring column.
 
For Emmanuel, O'Dwyer had 24 points and eight boards while Kirwan added 18 points and 12 rebounds.