WILKES-BARRE, PA (February 9, 2022) -- Senior Samantha Rajza surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in the early minutes of the second quarter in the King's College women's basketball team's 68-51 loss in McGrane Gymnasium to DeSales University in Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom (MAC Freedom) play.

Rajza entered tonight's contest at 998 career points before hitting the milestone bucket at the 7:56 mark of the second quarter off an offensive rebound by senior Emily Kriston. Rajza becomes the 25^th player in program history to record the milestone.

The early possessions were evenly matched before DeSales (16-3, 14-0 MAC Freedom) built a 13-point advantage, 20-7, with 2:27 left in the opening quarter. King's would score three more points in the quarter before settling for a 22-10 deficit at the end of the period. The Bulldogs lead swelled to 21, 37-16, with 4:28 to play in the half before King's (13-8, 8-5 MAC Freedom) used a 13-4 run to end the half, trailing 41-29.

A much slower-paced third saw the Monarchs to within five, 45-40, before a Bulldogs bucket with 25 seconds left in the third gave them the 47-40 advantage with one quarter to play. DeSales opened the fourth on a 7-0 run to build their lead, the the Monarchs could not recover down the stretch, dropping the MAC Freedom contest, 68-51, in McGrane Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

Kriston paced the Monarchs offense in the loss, recording her first double-double of the season with 17 points and a career-high 10 boards, also adding three assists. Rajza totaled 10 points with two steals, while first year Alli Lindsay came off the bench to add nine points. Additionally, junior Sarah Heiskell-Mann grabbed five boards, dished out three assists, and scored four points as well in the loss.

Mikaela Reese led DeSales with 25 points and eight boards, while Maria Newsome totaled 10 points and five assists. Megan Bealer came up just shy of a double-double with 11 boards and nine points, adding three blocks and three stelas.

King's shot 34.5 percent (19-55) from the floor, while the defense held the Bulldogs to 22.7 percent (5-22) from beyond the arc. The Monarchs defense also forced 13 turnovers and dished out 13 assists on 19 field goals. Inside the stat sheet, the King's bench out scored DeSales, 19-6.

The Monarchs are back in action on Saturday, February 12 as they will honor their three seniors on senior day prior to their MAC Freedom matchup with the Devils of FDU-Florham at 1:00 p.m. in McGrane Gymnasium.