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King's women will face defending Ivy League champion Penn on New Years Eve day at the Palestra in Philadelphia

King's Women's Hoops Facing Unique Opportunity to Face Defending Ivy League Champion Penn, Game to Played at Historic Palestra

12/28/2014 12:30:00 PM

Game Notes

DECEMBER 28, 2014
 
KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL FACING TOUGHEST TEST EVER AGAINST DEFENDING IVY LEAGUE CHAMPION PENN ON DECEMBER 31, GAME AT THE HISTORIC PALESTRA

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PHILADELPHIA -- The King's College women's basketball team will face the biggest challenge in the history of the program when the Lady Monarchs travel to Philadelphia on Wednesday, December 31 to face defending Ivy League champion University of Pennsylvania at 1:00 p.m. in the historic Palestra arena.

King's, an NCAA Division III program which plays in the Freedom Conference, will face a tall order against the Division I Quakers, who won the 2014 Ivy League championship and played in the NCAA Division I National Tournament. 

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King's enters the contest with a 3-4 overall record and has played a challenging early-season schedule. The Lady Monarchs lost a pre-season exhibition game against Division I Colgate, then suffered losses to 2014 NCAA Division III national qualifier Ferrum. King's also lost to Scranton (7-0), ranked sixth nationally in Division III, as well as falling to defending Division III national champion FDU-Florham (8-0), currently the top-ranked team in Division III. 

Head coach Brian Donoghue is hopeful the brutal early-season slate will prepare his squad for the second semester when the vast majority of Freedom Conference games are played.
 
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Manning
King's has been paced by the play of 5-foot-10 sophomore forward Kayla Feairheller who enters the game averaging 14.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per-game while adding 12 three-pointers. Senior six-foot power forward Marissa Manning, who will be making a homecoming of sorts after playing scholastically at traditional Philadelphia power Cardinal O'Hara, follows with 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds while blocking eight shots.

Sophomore 5-foot-5 point-guard Kasey Seitz adds 9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds. and 3.6 assists while making 10 three-pointers. Freshman Olivia Hoffman, a 6-2 center, contributes 7.7 points and 7.0 boards while blocking a team-high 18 shots. Junior 5-foot-9 forward Tara Zdancewicz comes off the bench to score 7.0 points with 3.7 rebounds.

Junior 5-10 forward Jennifer Fabian, who missed the first two games of the season with an injury, contributes 6.4 points and 6.6 rebounds. Junior guard Katie Dugan, a 5-foot-8 three-point shooting specialist, averages 5.0 points off the bench with 11 treys. Sophomore Shae Grim, a 5-foot-8 shooting guard, chips in with 4.9 points each contest.

Through its first seven games King's has averaged 67.1 points per-game while yielding 74.1 points each contest.

Penn, meanwhile, owns a 5-4 record after a 69-63 victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Monday.  As to be expected, Penn will hold a major size advantage with six players standing six-foot or taller with two players standing 6-foot-3.

Sydney Stipanovich, a 6-foot-3 sophomore center, tops the Quakers with 11.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 25 blocked shots. Senior 5-foot-11 guard Kathleen Roche follows with 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and has made a team-high 15 three-pointers.

Kara Bonenberger, a 6-1 senior forward, adds 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds while 6-foot-3 freshman forward Michelle Nwokedi contributes 5.4 points and 4.6 points off the bench. Keira Ray, a 5-9 junior guard, checks in with 5.7 points and 2.6 boards.  Freshman 5-foot-9 guard Anna Ross chips in with 5.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and a team high 3.1 assists.  Penn redshirt junior guard Kasey Chambers is the daughter of King's all-time leading scorer and Middle Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame inductee Mary Beth Bowler-Chambers, who netted 2,024 points for the Lady Monarchs from 1979-83.

The Quakers average 59.4 points per-game while allowing 57.2 points each game.

"When we received the invitation to play the University of Pennsylvania at the Palestra, we quickly accepted, realizing how special it would be for a Division III program to play in one of the most historic collegiate basketball arenas. We believe that we have been presented with a unique opportunity to compete against a Division I league champion, and to do so in a very special place. Competing against a great opponent in a historic venue hopefully creates a lifelong memory for everyone involved with our program. We would like to thank Coach (Mike) McLaughlin and the University of Pennsylvania for scheduling us and providing us with such a tremendous opportunity."

Upon returning from Philadelphia, King's will then take to the floor January 3-4 at the Marywood University Invitational.
 
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