DALLAS, PA (February 26, 2020) -- A dominant second quarter that saw the King's College women's basketball team outscore the Misericordia University Cougars, 26-13, led the Monarchs to a semifinal win in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) playoffs, 74-63, Wednesday night in the Anderson Center. This win marks the first semifinal win for the Monarchs since the 2012-2013 season when the Monarchs defeated DeSales before falling to FDU-Florham in the championship game.

Both teams struggled offensively in the opening quarter as the teams saw the scoreboard tied at 11 after the first quarter of play. King's came out of the break to surge offensively, opening the second quarter on a 13-3 run behind six points and a steal by freshman Emily Morano and four points and a steal by senior Rebecca Prociak. King's led by 10 with 6:32 to play in the half before the Cougars used a 6-1 run to pull within five, 27-22, but the Monarchs continued to connect on all cylinders as they used a 10-2 run to end the half and lead by 13, 37-24, at the half.

The teams traded baskets early in the second half with the Monarchs still leading by 13 with 6:12 left in the third, but Misericordia would not back down as they used a 9-2 run to close the gap to just six points, 46-40, with 1:13 to go in the third, but five unanswered points by the Monarchs down the stretch saw the lead increase to 11 off a free throw by junior Zoe Stein to hold a 51-40 advantage with one quarter left to play.

Misericordia used an early run in the final quarter to pull withing seven, 55-48, with 7:47 left, but an 11-1 Monarchs run saw the lead swell to 19, 68-49, with 5:02 left in regulation as Morano grabbed a board and found sophomore Samantha Rajza in transition for the layup. The Cougars tried climbing their way back from the deficit, but each time King's answered with a big defensive stop and score on the other end. Back-to-back threes by Misericordia closed the gap to 11, 74-63, with 45 seconds on the clock. King's called a timeout to advance the ball and ran out the clock to secure the semifinal victory, 74-63.

Four led in double figures for the Monarchs as Prociak dominated in the paint for 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting, with seven rebounds and two steals. Morano continued to excel as she came off the bench for 17 points, four boards, four assists, and a team-high three steals.  Senior Mackenzie Yori and sophomore Samantha Rajza rounded out the scoring with 13 each as both recored 39 minutes of action tonight. Both totaled two steals, and Rajza added seven rebounds. In addition, sophomore Emily Kriston filled the stat sheet yet again, totaling six points, a game-high five assists, five boards, and two steals in the win.

Misericordia (20-6, 10-4 MAC Freedom) was led by Tessa Zamolyi with 23 points and seven rebounds. Alyssa Bondi recorded 16 points with four threes, and Jordan Barth recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.

King's (16-10, 9-5 MAC Freedom) shot 46.0 percent (26-for-63) from the field and 43.8 percent (7-for-16) from three for the game compared to the Cougars 40.4 percent (23-57) from the field while struggling from three as they hit just eight threes on 29 attempts (27.6 percent). The Monarchs forced 14 turnovers while committing 11 steals, and they totaled 33 team rebounds and 13 assists. Inside the box score, King's held the advantage in points off of turnovers (22-5), bench points (18-2), points in the paint (42-24), and fast break points (12-2).

The Monarchs will prepare for the MAC Freedom championship game set for Saturday as they will face the DeSales University Bulldogs in Billera Hall with a time to be announced shortly. DeSales defeated Eastern in the other semifinal matchup, 69-54. King's and DeSales have also split their regular-season contests, both winning on their respective home courts.