Box Score
DECEMBER 5, 2015

KING'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL DEFEATS NATIONALLY-RANKED FDU-FLORHAM 66-57

WILKES-BARRE, PA --- The King's College women's basketball team recorded their biggest win of the young season with a 66-57 victory over 14^th-ranked FDU-Florham on Saturday afternoon at Scandlon Gymnasium in Wilkes-Barre.

The Lady Monarchs improve to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom play while the Devils fall to 5-2 and 1-1 in the conference.

King's came out strong and took a 4-0 lead on two Jennifer Fabian baskets. The Devils responded with four points of their own to tie the game up. The teams then traded baskets for the rest of the quarter with Fabian hitting one of two free throws with 1:11 left to give the Lady Monarchs a 13-12 lead after one quarter of play.

Kasey Seitz buried a jumper to open up scoring in the second quarter. After a three-pointer by FDU-Florham to tie the game at 15 the Lady Monarchs scored the next eight points to take a 23-15 lead. Alexis Steeber finished the run with a steal and then a fastbreak layup to force the Devils to call a timeout with 6:37 left in the half. Coming out of the timeout the Devils were able to cut the deficit to 23-19 but King's responded with a 12-2 run over the course of 4:05 to take their largest lead of the game. Tara Zdancewicz had seven of the team's points during the run enforcing her will on the offensive and defensive end recording four rebounds, two on offense and two on defense, and one blocked shot to give King's a 35-21 lead with 1:10 remaining in the half. The Devils were able to score three more points to cut the lead to 36-25 at halftime.

After a Kayla Feairheller jumper to open the second half the Devils began slowly chipping away at the Lady Monarch lead. They were able to get within eight at 41-33 after two foul shots by Shalette Brown with 5:38 left in the quarter. Back-to-back layups by Steeber and Fabian increased the lead up to 11 at 48-37 with 1:46 left. FDU-Florham responded with a 9-2 run to finish the quarter behind five points from Danielle Leguillou and four from Brown.

The run continued in the fourth quarter for the Devils as they scored the first six points to take their first and largest lead of the game 53-50 with 7:10 left. Fabian hit two free throws and then Feairheller knocked down a jumper off an offensive rebound on King's next two possessions to take the lead back at 54-53 with 6:02 left. A Steeber layup and the King's only made three-point attempt from Feairheller increased the lead up to six with 3:24 remaining. The Lady Monarchs then took advantage of the Devils being over the foul limit and knocked down seven out of 10 free throw attempts to close out the game.

Kayla Feairheller and Jennifer Fabian just missed double-doubles to lead King's. Feairheller recorded a team-high 18 points and nine rebounds while Fabian had 13 points and nine rebounds. Tara Zdancewicz came off the bench to record 11 points, 10 in the first half, and seven rebounds. Olivia Hoffman was a force on defense recording a career-high six blocks, two coming late in the fourth quarter on Shalette Brown. She also had seven rebounds while scoring four points. As a team the Lady Monarchs blocked 11 shots and were able to win the rebounding battle 48-46.

Preseason All-American Shalette Brown led the Devils with 23 points and 23 rebounds. Danielle Leguillou added 13 point and Jhade Aird recorded seven rebounds. King's defense held the Devil's six-foot center Rachel Groom to just five points and three rebounds.

King's broke a five game losing streak to FDU-Florham and handed the three-time defending conference champions their second conference loss in the last three years. King's also avenged an 86-41 loss to the Devils last February in Wilkes-Barre in which King's was down 44-9 at halftime. The win is the first for the Lady Monarchs over a ranked opponent since defeating 25^th-ranked FDU-Florham 66-45 in Scandlon Gymnasium on February 2^nd, 2013.

The Lady Monarchs will be in action again on Monday when they will host Marywood University in Scandlon Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m.