SCRANTON, Pa.—A return to the Long Center was just the incentive The University of Scranton needed in the first of a four-game Landmark Conference home stand against Drew University Saturday afternoon.
After shooting poorly in dropping two of their last three games on the road, the Lady Royals jumped out to an early lead and never looked back en route to a 63-36 victory. Senior guard Megan Kopecki (Millington, N.J./Watchung Hills Regional) led Scranton, now 8-4 overall and 2-0 in the conference, with 14 points, five rebounds and four steals and senior guard Colleen McLane (Scranton, Pa./Scranton Preparatory) contributed eight points, two assists and two steals.
Sophomore guard Dana Coronato (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North) led the Rangers, now 7-4 overall and 1-1 in the Landmark Conference, with 10 points and junior guard Danielle Barber (Cape May Court House, N.J./Middle Township).
The Lady Royals kept the defensive pressure on Drew early and often. Scranton held the Rangers to just one point in the opening 10 minutes of play to build up a comfortable 17-point lead. The Lady Royals got a little sloppy, however, during the final 10 minutes before intermission, which allowed the Rangers to get back into contention as Coronato scored seven points during an 18-9 run to cut the lead to 27-19 by halftime.
Scranton then broke the game open by scoring the first eight points of the second half to take a 16-point lead and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
As it has all season, the bench played a key role for the Lady Royals today. Scranton's reserves out-scored the Ranger bench, 27-17, as junior guard Sidney Jaques (Rosemont, N.J./Hunterdon Central), sophomore guard/forward KC Hawkes (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central) and sophomore forward Shernai Bentley (Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley) chipped in six points apiece. Starting power forward Courtney Roselle (Cedar Grove, N.J./Mount St. Dominic Academy) finished with six points and 10 rebounds.
The Lady Royals also enjoyed a 28-8 advantage in points in the paint and turned 28 turnovers by Drew into 27 points. Defensively, the Lady Royals pressured the Rangers into shooting only 23.1 percent from the field.
After shooting well below 30 percent from the field in recent losses to fourth-ranked Kean and Gettysburg, Scranton picked up it considerably today, connecting on nearly 48 percent of their field goal attempts in the first half and finished a respectable 44.4 percent for the game.
The Lady Royals will continue this home stand tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 p.m. against the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Tomorrow's game will be the 900th for Mike Strong as head coach of the Lady Royals. Strong's first game with the Scranton women's basketball program was a 65-61 victory over Loyola College of Maryland in a tournament game at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on November 24, 1979.
News & Notes: Scranton has won all 62 meetings with Drew University, which began on January 25, 1977…all 14 players saw action for the Lady Royals…Strong is now 743-156 (.826) in 31 seasons as head coach at Scranton…Reid finished with 10 rebounds for Drew…Scranton held a 41-36 advantage on the boards.
Newspaper Box Score
SCRANTON 63, DREW 36
DREW (7-4/1-1 Landmark)
Dana Coronato 3-14 1-2 10; Danielle Barber 3-15 2-2 8; Logan Cavanaugh 2-2 0-0 4; Britta Olsen 0-2 3-4 3; Victoria Ault 1-7 1-2 3; Kat Luby 1-2 0-0 3; Jen Mateo 1-6 0-0 3; Jessica Reid 1-2 0-0 2; Whitney Mackay 0-1 0-0 0; Kathryn Kozma 0-0 0-0 0; Brianna Reich 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 12-52 7-10 36.
SCRANTON (8-4/2-0 Landmark)
Megan Kopecki 5-10 4-7 14; Colleen McLane 2-5 4-4 8; KC Hawkes 3-3 0-0 6; Shernai Bentley 2-4 2-2 6; Sidney Jaques 2-4 0-0 6; Courtney Roselle 3-6 0-0 6; Alison Sweeney 2-8 1-2 5; Sarah Gage 1-2 1-2 3; Katie Cunningham 1-3 0-1 3; Brianna Reigstad 1-1 0-0 2; Katie Sherry 1-1 0-0 2; Katherine Torto 1-4 0-2 2; Christina Hiltunen 0-3 0-0 0; Tayler Pallotta 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 12-20 63.
Drew.......................... 19 17 - 36
Scranton.................... 27 36 - 63
3-point goals--Drew 5-20 (Dana Coronato 3-10; Jen Mateo 1-2; Kat Luby 1-2; Danielle Barber 0-6), The University of Scranton 3-13 (Sidney Jaques 2-3; Katie Cunningham 1-2; Courtney Roselle 0-1; Alison Sweeney 0-3; Katherine Torto 0-1; Christina Hiltunen 0-1; Colleen McLane 0-2). Fouled out--Drew-None, The University of Scranton-None. Rebounds--Drew 36 (Jessica Reid 10), The University of Scranton 41 (Courtney Roselle 10). Assists—Drew 9 (Jen Mateo 5), The University of Scranton 17 (KC Hawkes 3; Katie Cunningham 3). Total fouls--Drew 16, The University of Scranton 13. Technical fouls--Drew-None, The University of Scranton-None. A-350