Box Score

JANUARY 10, 2015

KING'S WOMEN'S RALLY FALLS SHORT IN 64-54 LOSS TO GWYNEDD-MERCY

WILKES-BARRE The King's College women's basketball team whittled a 13-point half-time point deficit to three points on three occasions but ran out of steam as the Lady Monarchs dropped a 64-54 to visiting Gwynedd-Mercy University Saturday afternoon in Scandlon Gymnasium.

With the loss, King's slipped to 5-7 on the year while Gwynedd improved to 7-6.

King's started quickly and built  a quick 11-4 lead just 4:40 into the game on the strength of five points from Jennifer Fabian. But Gwynedd countered with a 9-2 run to tie the score at 13-13 following a jumper by Julianna Hoisington with 12:01 left in the opening stanza.  Both teams hist dry spells until Gwynedd used a three-pointer from Chandler DiFebbo and four consecutive points from Terry Dee to build a 20-13 lead at the 7:31 mark.  The Griffins continued to add to the lead and pushed the score to 26-14 with 5:12 on the clock.

King's, meanwhile, went ice-cold from the field, going from the 13:20 mark until 4:16 left without a basket until Marissa Manning made good on a short jumper. It marked a span of 9:04 where the Lady Monarchs went without a bucket from the floor.  The Griffins would take a 36-23 lead into the locker room.

In the second half King's trailed 40-29 after Gwynedd's Natasha Matthews score with 15:27 left in the contest, but the Lady Monarchs battled back. A pair of foul shots and an inside basket from Fabian cut the lead to 40-33 with 14:38 to play. After a Griffin miss, Manning scored four straight points to cap a 9-0 run to bring King's to within 40-37 with 14:02 left. The teams traded scores  and the Lady Monarchs kept it a one-possession game when Manning scored again to cut the lead to 48-45 with 9:13 on the clock.

But the Griffins responded with a 12-4 surge to push the score to  60-49 with 2:52 left on a big three-pointer from Kelsey Yori.  King's countered with a three-pointer by Kasey Seitz to trim the lead to 60-54 with 1:04 to play. With King's forced to foul the rest of the way Gwynedd made 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Manning led King's with 20 points and six rebounds while Kayla Feairheller followed with 13 points and nine rebounds. Fabian finished with seven points and seven rebounds while Seitz tallied with seven points and six boards. Olivia Hoffman chipped in with two points and a game-high 12 rebounds and four blocks.

Gwynedd was paced by Dee Terry with 19 points off the bench. Matthews followed with 14 points for the Griffins.

King's will return to its Freedom Conference schedule Wednesday when the Lady Monarchs host DeSales University at 6:00 p.m. in Scandlon Gym.