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Terre Haute

Coverage of the women's
NCAA Tournament

2002 season

King's 72, Scranton 57

SALISBURY, Md. — Nikki Kingston and Jen Wozniak scored 19 points apiece to lead King’s to a 72-57 victory against archrival Scranton to advance to the NCAA Atlantic Sectional championship game Friday at Salisbury University.

With the win, King’s improved to 25-3 and set a school record for victories while advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history. Scranton, meanwhile, ended its season with a 25-5 mark. The teams played three times during the season with the Lady Monarchs capturing all three contests.

Scranton opened the game with a 10-5 run as Eileen Webster led the way with four points. King’s would counter with a 11-0 spurt on a pair of baskets by Tiffini Varrasse and a 3-pointer by Jennie Orelli to take a 16-10 lead with 11:21 left in the half. After Judy Flounders canned a 3-pointer to bring the Lady Royals to within 16-13, King’s extended the margin to 20-13 on consecutive baskets by Nikki Kingston. After Scranton countered with back-to-back baskets by Gillian McGovern and Webster with 8:32 left, King’s exploded to close out the half with a 22-3 run.

Jen Wozniak scored three straight baskets before a bucket by Fran Monte put the Lady Monarchs ahead 32-17 with 4:49 left. After AnneMarie Russo converted a traditional three-point play for Scranton with 4:38 on the clock, the Lady Monarchs would score the next 10 points to end the half. Kingston knocked down a pair of foul shots before Varrasse scored six straight points to put King’s ahead 40-20 with 1:36 left. The Lady Monarchs then closed out the scoring when Kristin Yeasted hit a driving layup at the buzzer to give King’s a 42-20 lead at the break.

Kingston scored 11 points to pace King’s in the first half while Varrasse added 10 as the Lady Monarchs converted 51.4% (19-for-37) of their shots. Webster led the Lady Royals with six while Russo added five as Scranton shot just 31.0% (9-for-29) from the field.

In the second half, the teams would trade baskets as King’s maintained a near 20-point lead throughout majority of final stanza. Scranton drew within 18 points on several occasions, but the Lady Monarchs would consistently answer with baskets of their own. With King’s ahead 57-36 with 10:46 left, Wozniak scored King’s next three baskets to put the Lady Monarchs ahead 61-41 with 8:47 left.

After Crawford scored for the Lady Royals, Monte and Kingston hit back-to-back baskets to put the Lady Monarchs ahead 65-43 with 6:45 left. The teams traded baskets, on the next three possessions, before Wozniak made one-of-two foul shots and Varrasse canned a short jumper to extend the lead to 70-47 with 5:59 left to put the game away for the Lady Monarchs.

Varrasse added 15 points five assists, and five steals for King’s, while Kingston added thee assists and six steals while puling down a team-high eight rebounds. Monte netted eight point with five rebounds while Carissa Ryan chipped in with four points and a team-high seven assists. King’s shot 48.4% (31-for-64) for the game and used a half-court trapping defense to force 27 Scranton turnovers.

Dougherty had 13 points for Scranton while Webster added 10 points and eight rebounds. Russo netted eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

For King’s, the win was sweet redemption as the Lady Monarchs won the MAC Freedom Conference regular season championship but were upset by fourth-seeded Delaware Valley in the semi-finals. Second-seeded Scranton went on to win the conference title and gain the NCAA automatic berth while the Lady Monarchs settled for an at-large bid.

“I am very proud of the way our team played tonight, especially on the defensive end,” King’s ninth-year head Bryan Whitten stated. “That might have been our best first half of basketball we have played since I have been here. To hold a team like Scranton to 20 points in the first half really demonstrated the type of effort and intensity we had to night. It was a real team effort and our offense really fed off our defense. After we lost to Delaware Valley in the conference semi-finals, we have really stressed how important it is to get off to a good start. We were able to do that in our last game against Alvernia with a 14-0 start and again tonight.”

King’s will face Marymount in the sectional final Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The Saints routed host Salisbury 79-52 to advance to the championship game. The winner will gain a berth in the NCAA Division III Final Four.

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