WILKES-BARRE – The King’s College women’s basketball team had mixed emotions when it left its home gym Saturday after the first of two days in the fourth annual Cross County Challenge.
After outscoring nationally ranked University of Scranton in the second half of a loss, the Monarchs wondered what might have been if they played better in the first half.
But, they also went away eager to get back on the court and continue what they had shown in the second half.
Operating under the theory that they were continuing Saturday’s effort, not starting over, the Monarchs overpowered Marywood University, 93-57, Sunday.
“We saw what we could do,” said senior Rebecca Prociak, who made the all-tournament team after scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds Sunday. “We even said in the locker room (Saturday), ‘fifth quarter starts tomorrow,’ because we knew we played the very next day.”
After losing to Scranton, 77-69, King’s (3-2) bounced back to finish 1-1 in the event and prevent the Lackawanna County schools from repeating their sweep of a year ago. Marywood also went 1-1.
“We wanted to build on our momentum going from the end of the Scranton game,” said King’s coach Caitlin Hadzimichalis, a former Marywood athlete. “We literally said, ‘this isn’t the first quarter, it’s the fifth quarter. We’re picking up where we left off (Saturday). We’ve got to get a win. We’ve got to get a split here and we’ve got to get above .500 going into break’.”
Mackenzie Yori, a senior guard from Hazleton Area, hit four 3-pointers while scoring 20 of her game-high 24 points in the first half.
“We wanted to play the whole game the way we played the second half (Saturday),” Yori said. “We showed a lot of heart in that game and we carried that heart over to this game.
“It’s a big deal to us to have this win and to have it by that margin because we know we’re capable of doing exactly how we did (Sunday). We’re so proud of ourselves for that, for regrouping and coming out like we did today.”
Marywood led, 14-11, before Prociak scored six straight points to start a 10-0 run.
King’s pulled away from there, building the lead to 50-34 at halftime, then opening the second half with a 11-2 run in the first 3:11 to make it 61-36.
After not scoring 100 points in a game for 22 seasons, the Monarchs were in position to do it twice in four games, leading 86-48 with 7:36 left, before slowing down with reserves in the game.
Freshman Emily Morano, who had seven rebounds off the bench, and Samantha Rajza scored 11 points each.
Olivia Kosin had 11 points and five rebounds in 15 minutes off the Marywood bench and made the all-tournament team.
Scranton took a 41-22 halftime lead in Saturday’s game in which Prociak said the Monarchs came out “timid.”
Preseason All-American and all-tournament selection Makenzie Mason had 17 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Lady Royals, who are 4-0 after advancing to the NCAA Division III Final Four last season. They are ranked third and fifth nationally in the two major Division III polls.
Prociak led King’s with 17 points before fouling out. Rajza, last week’s MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Week, added 15 points, six assists and six steals.
King’s put five players in double figures in scoring with Yori and Morano adding 13 each and Emily Kriston supplying 11.
King’s College 93, Marywood University 57
MARYWOOD (57) — Emily Theobald 4-12 0-0 8, Aryah Aungst 3-10 0-0 7, Allison Bashore 2-4 0-0 6, Marissa Fernandez Tierney 1-3 1-2 3, Cait Reilly 1-4 0-0 2, Olivia Kosin 4-7 3-5 11, Jade Rolon 3-7 2-3 9, Morgan Shamro 2-5 0-0 6, Katie Wolfgang 1-3 0-0 2, Bethany Maby 0-0 2-2 2, Kilie Wyers 0-3 1-2 1, Katie Costello 0-1 0-0 0, Savannah Purdy 0-0 0-0 0, Gracie Guarino 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 9-14 57.
KING’S (93) — Mackenzie Yori 10-14 0-0 24, Rebecca Prociak 9-16 4-5 22, Samantha Rajza 4-9 2-2 11, Emily Kriston 2-5 0-0 5, Kayla Dillinger 1-3 0-0 3, Emily Morano 5-10 0-0 11, Kristen Coleman 3-6 0-0 9, Sarah Heiskell-Mann 1-4 4-4 6, Zoe Stein 1-1 0-0 2, Sara Wolbert 0-2 0-2 0, Cailin Wilson 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 36-74 10-13 93.
Marywood`20`14`11`12`—`57
King’s`26`24`28`15`—`93
Three-point shooting — MARY 6-18 (Bashore 2-3, Shamro 2-5, Rolon 1-2, Aungst 1-3, Theobald 0-1, Wolfgang 0-1, Fernandez Tierney 0-1, Wyers 0-2), KING’S 11-22 (Yori 4-6, Coleman 3-6, Kriston 1-1, Dillinger 1-2, Morano 1-2, Rajza 1-4, Wilson 0-1).
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