DECEMBER 30, 2015

KING'S WOMEN DROP 69-64 DECISION TO NEUMANN

WASHINGTON D.C. --  The Neumann University women's basketball team broke up a tie game with 1:55 remaining by outscoring King's College 10-5 the rest of the way as the Knights earned a 69-64 on the final day of the Fairfield Inn Holiday Tournament Wednesday at Catholic Univerity, Washington D.C.

With the win Neumann improved to 4-7 while King's slipped to 8-4.

The game was closely contested throughout. Neumann had built an eight-point lead with 3:27 remaining in the second quarter with a 21-13 advantage but King's drew to within 23-19 at the halftime break.

In the third quarter King's opened with a 10-5 run to take a 29-28 with 7:30 on the clock after a Kayla Feairheller three-pointer. The teams would trade leads with Feairheller pushing the score to 31-30 on a short jumper, but Neumann used a 4-0 spurt to build a 34-31 advantage after a lay-up by Shauntell Williams with 5:24 remaining.  King's eventually took a 38-38-35 lead after an inside basket from Tara Zdancewicz and a three-pointer by Kasey Seitz with 3:11 left in the quarter.  But Neumann closed out the frame with a 9-2 surge to take a 44-40 into the fourth quarter.

King's would tie the game on five more occasions, the final time coming when Feairheller hit a jumper with 1:55 left in the contest to knot the score at 59-59. But the Knights got a pair of foul shots from Nafisa Saunders to go up 61-59 before Seitz made one of two free throws for King's to trim the lead to 61-60 with 1:03 on the clock.

Saunders then scored inside to give the Knights a 60-63 lead but King's was unable to counter as a costly turnover gave Neumann possession with 0:39 to play.  From there Saunders again scored on the inside to push the lead to 65-60 with 0:35 to go. Jennifer Fabian then made one-of-two free throws for King's to bring the score to 65-61 with 0:25 remaining. 

With King's forced to foul Neumann extended the lead to 67-61 when Lauren Legner made a pair of free throws with 0:24 left. After a King's miss, Legner was again fouled with 0:09 left and made both shots to set the final score.

Fabian led King's with 16 points and 20 rebounds while Seitz followed with 14 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. Olivia Hoffmann tallied 13 points and seven rebounds while Feairheller contributed 13 points and three assists. Zdancewicz chipped in with six points and four boards.  

Only six King's players scored in the game. The Lady Monarchs shot 31.5 (23-73) percent from the field and 25.9 (7-27) percent from three-point range. King's also struggled from the foul line, converting just 55.0 (11-20) from the charity stripe. Neumann shot 43.1 (22-51) percent from the floor won the game from the foul line, making 73.3 (22-30) of its free throws.

Legler led Neumann with 22 points and seven rebounds while JoHanna Metzger followed with 18 points and 17 rebounds. Saunders contributed 12 points for the Knights

King's will now be idle until January 13 with a 6:00 p.m. matchup at Freedom Conference rival DeSales University.