FEBRUARY 17, 2004
BOB ZIADIE
KING'S WOMEN UPEND THIRD-RANKED SCRANTON, 70-65
WILKES-BARRE -- Senior forward Jennie Orelli netted
a career-high 20 points and the King's College women's basketball team
overcame an early 10-point deficit to rally past third-ranked, arch-rival
Scranton 70-65 Tuesday in Scandlon Gymnasium on Senior Day.
With the win, King's improved to 18-6 overall and
9-4 in Freedom Conference play. Scranton fell to 22-2 and 11-1 in
conference action. It also marked King's fifth win over Scranton in the
last seven meetings.
Both teams struggled offensively early in the game
but Scranton managed to build a 21-11 lead on a basket by Allison Matt
with 7:33 remaining the half. King's would respond with a 10-0 run keyed
by two baskets from Beth Jordan, a bucket and foul shot by Kristen Yeasted
and a pair of Tiffini Varrasse foul shots to bring the Lady Monarchs to
within 21-19 with 4:23 left in the opening stanza.
Tara Gemmel would make one-of-two foul shots to give
Scranton a 22-19 lead but King's would again answer on a bucket by
Yeasted, a three-pointer from Orelli, and a pair of foul shots by Jordan
to give King's a 26-24 advantage with 1:32 left in the half.
Kate Pierangeli drained a three-pointer to put
Scranton back on top 27-26 with 0:43 on the clock, but Jordan responded
with a basket with 0:27 left to give King's a 28-27 halftime lead.
In the second half, Scranton take the lead back on
its first possession on a basket by Katie Dougherty. The teams would trade
leads until the Lady Royals went on a 4-0 spurt when Kelly Lewandowski
made two of four foul shots, then added a bucket to give Scranton a 42-38
lead with 12:31 remaining.
King's would counter with a 16-6 spurt ignited by
seven points from Orelli and baskets from Jordan and Katie Lala as the
Lady Monarchs took a 54-48 lead with 6:25 remaining. Scranton would later
tie the score at 54-54 with 4:47 left on back-to-back three-pointers from
Matt. The teams would trade baskets until King's Lauren Bonanni drained a
short jumper to put the Lady Monarchs on top 58-56 with 3:44 on the clock.
Jen Wozniak would put the Lady Monarchs ahead by four points with a basket
but Maura Kane scored for Scranton to bring the margin to 60-58 with 2:35
left.
Scranton would eventually close to within 62-61 on a
three-point play from Pierangeli with 1:10 remaining but King's answered
right back when Jordan hit two foul shots to push the King's advantage to
64-61 with 1:01 on the clock. Lewandowski would score for Scranton to
bring the Lady Royals to within 64-63 with 0:42 remaining but Wozniak
quickly answered with a basket to extend the lead to 66-63 with 0:31 left.
After a Pierangeli turnover, Orelli was fouled and canned both shots to
push the lead to 68-63 with 0:25 left. After a Scranton miss, Jordan was
fouled and made both shots to up the margin to 70-63 with 0:12 remaining.
Dougherty added a late basket to bring the score to 70-65.
Orelli surpassed her previous career-best of 18
points by hitting 5-of-6 shots from the field, including 4-of-5 from
three-point range. She also added a team-high eight rebounds, three
assists, and three steals. Jordan, who was making just her seventh start
of the season, scored 16 points and was two-points shy of equaling her
career-high. Wozniak chipped in with 10 points, all in the second half,
while Varrasse chipped in with eight points, four assists, and two steals.
Pierangeli led Scranton with 20 points and five
assists while Matt followed with 10 points. Dougherty chipped in with nine
points and six steals.
