Box Score
FEBRUARY 12, 2013

KING'S WOMEN ROUTE MISERICORDIA FOR 78-56 WIN

WILKES-BARRE — Freshman guard Tiffany O'Donnell came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points and Katlin Michaels produced another brilliant floor game as the King's College women's basketball team posted a dominating 78-56 victory over local rival Misericordia University Tuesday night in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the win, King's improved to 19-5 overall and 11-2 in Freedom Conference play. Misericordia, meanwhile, slipped to 11-13 and 5-8.  The victory also enabled King's to sweep the season series from the Cougars while also eliminating Misericordia from post-season playoff contention.

With King's holding an early 9-6 lead, troubled appeared to unfold as starting shooting guard Celia Rader left the game with an injury just five minutes into the game. O'Donnell, however, entered the game and began to score from virtually everywhere on the court, registering 13 first-half points, including two three-pointers.

But it was Michaels who was the team's catalyst. As the Lady Monarchs raced out to a 29-10 lead, Michaels either scored or assisted on 27 of King's 29 points.

The Lady Monarchs stretched the lead to 23 points on an O'Donnell three-pointer with 5:19 left in the half. After a Cougar bucket, King's used a basket from Jen Fabian and a short jumper by Cassie Erdman to stretch the lead to 44-19 at the 0:56 mark. Misericordia got a basket from Sam Baro with 0:09 on the clock as King's entered the half-time break with a 44-21.   At halftime, Michaels had eight points and 10 assists while O'Donell made 5-of-6 shots from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-pointers.

In the second half it was more of the same as King's slowly began to extend the lead. A three-pointer by O'Donnell, and two lay-ups from Fabian and Lindsay Atchison pushed the score to 57-25 with with 14:01 to go.  After Misericordia cut the lead to 27 points after a Tyann McDaniel bucket brought the score to 57-30 with 13:21 to play, King's used another three-pointer from O'Donnell and one-of-two foul shots from Michaels to give King's a 31-point lead (61-30) with 12:38 to play.

With King's coach Brian Donoghue beginning to substitute liberally, Misericordia eventually cut the score to 66-45 with 8:22 to play after a three-pointer from McDaniel. But King's regrouped and pushed the lead back to 27 points when a Katie Dugan three-pointer gave the Lady Monarchs a 78-51 advantage with 3:41 to play.

O'Donnell finished the game making 8-of-12 from the floor, including 5-of-9 from three-point range. Michaels, meanwhile, posted her seventh double-double of the season, finishing the game with 16 points while setting a new King's single-game record with 15 assists. Her mark in assists tied for the second most assists in any NCAA Division III women's game this season. Michaels also chipped in with six rebounds and three steals. In the process, Michaels is now five points away from reaching the 1,000-point plateau.

Fabian added 13 points and nine rebounds for King's while Atchison added 12 points and 10 boards. Tara Zdancewicz contributed five points, four ebouds, and two blocks.

For Misericordia, Hannah Seeley had 19 points and nine rebounds while McDaniel added 10 points and three assists.

King's closes out the regular season Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. home matchup with cross-town rival Wilkes.