News Release

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Senior guard Allison Matt (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) scored a career-high 27 points, pulled down four rebounds, handed out five assists and made three steals to lead The University of Scranton past SUNY-Geneseo, 62-53, in the opening round of the Land of Magic Classic Thursday evening.

Senior guard Taryn Mellody (Dunmore, Pa./Bishop O’Hara) added 12 points as the Lady Royals, ranked fourth by D3hoops.com and fifth by the ESPN/WBCA/USA Today, won their seventh straight game to improve to 8-1. Junior forward Annie Verdino (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./New Hyde Park) led SUNY-Geneseo, which lost its second straight game to fall to 4-4, with 22 points and senior guard Katy Irving (Olean, N.Y./Olean) added 14 points and six rebounds.

Both teams struggled on the offensive end in the first-half. Scranton shot only 33.3 percent from the field, but managed to squeeze out a 26-23 lead by intermission behind 10 points by Matt. The Lady Knights were just 7-for-27 from the field (25.9 percent) in the opening 20 minutes but managed to stay within striking distance by knocking down two of three shots from beyond the 3-point arc and by making seven of eight shots from the free throw line.

The Lady Royals finally got untracked in the second-half by connecting on 8 of 14 3-point field goal attempts (57.1 percent) en route to shooting 48.1 percent from the field. For the game, Scranton made a season-high 12 3-pointers to help offset a 43-30 rebounding deficit. After committing 73 turnovers in their last three games, the Lady Royals turned it over a season-low 13 times. Scranton also received a boost off its bench from junior forward Kathleen Daly (Bryn Mawr, Pa./Merion Mercy Academy), who pulled down a season-high seven rebounds and had two steals and an assist in 24 minutes of action, while junior forward Amanda Haney (Unadilla, N.Y./Sidney) did likewise for SUNY-Geneseo, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds to go with seven points, two assists, a block and a steal in 25 minutes.

Matt previous career-high of 24 points came in an 86-68 victory over King’s College on January 18, 2006, at the Long Center. She has poured in 67 points in her last three games to raise her team-leading scoring average to a career-best 15.7. In the process, she moved ahead of Shelley Parks (1006 points, 1984-1985, 1986-1987), Mary Leedy (1020 points, 1981-1985) and Anne Gooley (1025, 1989-1993) for 21st-place on the Scranton all-time scoring list with 1,033 career points.

The Royals will take on Western Connecticut State University Friday evening at 6:00 p.m.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (8-1)
Matt, Allison 9-18 2-2 27; Mellody, Taryn 5-15 0-0 12; Fabio, Michelle 3-7 2-4 8; Remington, Stephanie 2-3 0-0 6; Brophy, Julie 1-3 0-0 3; Williams, Tiffaney 1-1 0-0 2; Daly, Kathleen 1-3 0-0 2; Waiters, Tammy 1-1 0-0 2;
Healy, Marisa 0-0 0-0 0; Davis, Claire 0-0 0-0 0; Thran, Casey 0-4 0-0 0;Mooney, Ryan 0-2 0-0 0. 
Totals 23-57 4-6 62.

SUNY-GENESEO (4-4)
VERDINO, Annie 7-16 7-7 22; IRVING, Katy 5-10 0-0 14; HANEY, Amanda 2-11 3-4 7; BIHR, Amanda 2-3 0-0 6; KLOSE, Alanna 1-2 0-0 2; SCORDINO, Jamie 1-8 0-0 2; RILEY, Bridget 0-1 0-0 0; REED, Lydia 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 18-56 10-11 53.

The University of Scranton....   26   36  -   62
SUNY-Geneseo..................   23   30  -   53

3-point goals-The University of Scranton 12-30 (Matt, Allison 7-14; Remington, Stephanie 2-3; Mellody, Taryn 2-7; Brophy, Julie 1-3; Thran, Casey 0-2; Mooney, Ryan 0-1), SUNY-Geneseo 7-14 (IRVING, Katy 4-5; BIHR,
Amanda 2-3; VERDINO, Annie 1-4; SCORDINO, Jamie 0-1; REED, Lydia 0-1). Fouled out--The University of Scranton-None, SUNY-Geneseo-None. Rebounds-The University of Scranton 30 (Daly, Kathleen 7), SUNY-Geneseo 43 (HANEY, Amanda 9). Assists-The University of Scranton 17 (Matt, Allison 5), SUNY-Geneseo 12 (BIHR, Amanda 4). Total fouls-The University of Scranton 11, SUNY-Geneseo
10.