FEBRUARY 13, 2007
KING’S WOMEN DOWN WILKES 82-46 TO POST 20TH
STRAIGHT WIN OVER LADY COLONELS
WILKES-BARRE –
The King’s College women’s basketball team overcame a slow start but
utilized a balanced offense with a tenacious defense as the lady
Monarchs posted their 20th straight victory over Wilkes University by an
82-46 count Tuesday in the Marts Center.
With the win, King’s improved to 17-7 overall and
9-4 in Freedom Conference play. Wilkes, meanwhile, slipped to 6-18 and
2-11 in league action.
Both teams would struggle in the early going,
managing an 8-8 tie with 11:51 left in the half. But King’s would use a
traditional three-point play by Brittany Atzert, a steal and basket by
Lauren Kendra, and a three-point bucket by Jenna Palumbo to build a 16-8
lead with 8:48 on the clock.
After a Wilkes three-pointer from Katie Cappelloni
cut the margin to 16-11, Palumbo ignited a 7-0 surge with another
three-pointer, followed by baskets by Andrea Hochstuhl and Kaitlyn
Fiorino as King’s lead grew to 23-11 with 6:24 left in the half.
After Wilkes cut the lead to 27-19, Palumbo
drained her third three-pointer of the half to stretch the Lady Monarch
advantage to 30-19 with 2:45 on the clock. Wilkes would draw to within
31-22 when Ashley Makarczyk with 1:04 remaining in the half, but Fiorino
canned a three-pointer at the 0:06 mark to give King’s a 34-22 half-time
lead.
In the second half King’s came out strong, using a
11-4 run to take a 45-26 lead on a three-pointer from Casey Heitman with
16:22 left. After Wilkes cut the lead to 45-29, King’s countered with
back-to-back treys by Heitman and Palumbo while Atzert added a short
jumper to extend the King’s lead to 53-29 with 12:10 left. King’s would
eventually build a 70-40 lead when Heitman made one-of-two charity
tosses with 5:16 remaining. With the reserves finishing out the game,
King’s continued to control play as Ann Kaluzavich’s lay-up with 2:27 on
the clock gave the Lady Monarchs a 78-42 advantage.
Heitman led King’s with 17 points, netting 14 in
the second half, while Palumbo followed with 16 points, including four
three-pointers to increase her single-season school-record to 89 treys.
Fiorino tallied 13 points while Atzert finished with 10. Lauren Kendra
chipped in with four points, eight assists, four rebounds, and four
steals. The Lady Monarch defense was also solid in forcing 28 Wilkes
turnovers.
Karyn Perestam led Wilkes with 15 points while
Andresen added seven. Wilkes held a 51-39 rebounding advantage over
King’s but was unable to capitalize after making just 26.3 (15-57) shots
from the floor.
King’s will close out the regular-season Saturday
with a 1:00 p.m. home game against FDU-Florham in Scandlon Gymnasium.
