PORTLAND, Ore.—Junior guard Taryn Mellody (Dunmore, Pa./Bishop O’Hara) scored 18 points, junior guard Allison Matt (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) added 15 points and four assists, and sophomore forward Michelle Fabio (Brick, N.J./Saint Rose) came off the bench to contribute 11 points and six rebounds to lead The University of Scranton to a 66-56 victory over Lewis and Clark College in the championship game of the Bon Appetit Classic late Saturday evening.
Senior guard and captain Erin Healy (Drexel Hill, Pa./Archbishop Prendergast) came off the bench to chip in nine points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals as the 5th-ranked Lady Royals, now 2-0, overcame an early 6-0 deficit to take a seven-point halftime lead. Sarah Moon led Lewis & Clark with a game-high 20 points and Crystal Castle had 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Mellody scored 14 of her 18 points in the first-half by connecting on 5 of 8 shots and Fabio hit four of her first five shots to score eight points in nine minutes of play as Scranton led 31-24 at intermission. Castle scored the first four points of the second half as the Pioneers closed the gap to three, 31-28. Matt then started a 10-0 spurt with a 3-pointer and closed it out with a layup with 15:46 remaining to extend Scranton’s lead to 13, 41-28.
Lewis & Clark whittled away at the Lady Royal lead and eventually cut it to four twice, at the 7:49 and 7:01 marks, and trailed by only five, 52-47, with 5:29 left. Mellody and Matt answered with baskets to push the lead back up to nine, and a pair of free throws by Healy and another basket by Mellody capped off a 9-2 run that extended Scranton’s lead to 12, 61-49 with 2:08 remaining. The closest the Pioneers got the rest of the way was nine points, 61-52, with 1:23 left.
The Lady Royals shook off an 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) shooting effort in the first-half by connecting on 14 of 29 field goal attempts (48.3 percent) in the second half. Scranton also pressured the Pioneers into 23 turnovers.
Scranton will break for Thanksgiving and return to action on Saturday, November 26, against the Cardinals of Catholic University in Washington, DC, at 2:00 p.m., before taking on the Lady Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, beginning at 3:00 p.m.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON (2-0) Taryn Mellody 7-12 1-1 18; Allison Matt 6-13 1-2 15; Michelle Fabio 5-9 1-2 11; Erin Healy 2-6 5-6 9; Casey Thran 2-5 1-2 5; Kathleen Daly 1-4 2-2 4; Kelly Lewandowski 2-6 0-1 4; Tammy Waiters 0-2 0-0 0; Julie Brophy 0-1 0-0 0; Stephanie Remington 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-59 11-16 66. LEWIS & CLARK (1-1) Moon, Sarah 8-16 3-6 20; Castle, Crystal 5-10 3-5 14; Castle, Shawna 1-5 6-6 8; Kittell, Kimberly 3-6 0-0 7; Farr, Allison 2-7 1-2 5; Snider, Laura 1-2 0-0 2; Curtis, Katie 0-2 0-0 0; Forte, Lila 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 13-19 56. Scranton...................... 31 35 - 66 Lewis & Clark................. 24 32 - 56 3-point goals-Scranton 5-9 (Taryn Mellody 3-5; Allison Matt 2-3; Julie Brophy 0-1), Lewis & Clark 3-14 (Kittell, Kimberly 1-3; Castle, Crystal 1-3; Moon, Sarah 1-3; Snider, Laura 0-1; Forte, Lila 0-1; Farr, Allison 0-2; Castle, Shawna 0-1). Fouled out--Scranton-Kelly Lewandowski, Lewis & Clark-Kittell, Kimberly. Rebounds-Scranton 32 (Michelle Fabio 6), Lewis & Clark 37 (Castle, Crystal 10). Assists-Scranton 14 (Allison Matt 4), Lewis & Clark 9 (Castle, Shawna 2; Castle, Crystal 2; Kittell, Kimberly 2). Total fouls-Scranton 22, Lewis & Clark 20. A-94