SCRANTON, PA (November 16, 2018) -- The King's College women's basketball team hung with the No. 8 Royals of University of Scranton Friday evening in the first day of action in the 2018 Cross Country Challenge, but in the end the Royals pulled away for a 70-58 victory in non-conference play from Marywood University's Insalaco Arena. 

The Monarchs trailed the Royals by 21 points with 3:09 to play in the third quarter, but King's started to pull its way back into the game. KC finished the period on a 9-0 run, finishing the spurt on a jumper by junior Mackenzie Yori with a second to go in the quarter to make the score 54-42 going to the fourth. 

King's climbed to within eight points at 3:09 of the game on a layup in transition from freshman Samantha Rajza, minutes later closing to six points on a pair of free throws by junior Rebecca Prociak with 1:39 to play. After back-to-back turnovers, Scranton finished the game on a 6-0 run to earn its first win of the season. 

Yori finished with 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting in 37 minutes, while Prociak chalked up her first double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Prociak was 5-of-15 from the floor, while going 6-of-9 from the free throw line. Rajza came off the bench to score a career-high 11 points, also pulling in five rebounds. 

King's shot 29.9 percent on the evening from the floor (20-67), hitting on 4-of-17 from the floor. The Monarchs did take care of the ball though, surrendering just eight turnovers while forcing 19 on the night. King's saw their opponents shot 52.8 percent from the floor, as Bridgette Mann scored a team-high 18 points for the Royals. 

Day two of the Cross County Challenge pits King's against host Marywood University Saturday at 4 p.m. at Insalaco Arena in Scranton, PA.