Meghan Lamanna of the University of Scranton eyes up a free throw during the NCAA Division III semifinal against NYU on Thursday night in Salem, Virginia.
Katie Gorski of the University of Scranton goes in for a layup against NYU during the NCAA Division III semifinal game Thursday night in Salem, Virginia.
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Meghan Lamanna of the University of Scranton eyes up a free throw during the NCAA Division III semifinal against NYU on Thursday night in Salem, Virginia.
SALEM, Virginia — Kaeli Romanowski looked at the box score following the University of Scranton women’s basketball team’s 60-52 win over NYU on Thursday night in the NCAA Division III Final Four and was upset.
She pointed out that she committed six turnovers and that the player she was responsible for guarding Olivia Lagao scored 14 points.
Everyone else, however, looked at the other numbers the senior posted.
Romanowski had one of the best performances in Scranton’s NCAA tournament history to help the Lady Royals (32-0) advance to Saturday’s national championship at Roanoke College’s Cregger Center against Denison University (29-2).
She scored a season-high 14 points, 10 of which came in the second half to help the Lady Royals withstand NYU’s comeback attempt from a 12-point halftime deficit.
Her 16 rebounds tied for the fifth-most by a Lady Royal in an NCAA tournament game. Una Espenkotter had 16 against Marywood on March 6, 1987, while Jackie Dougherty had 16 twice: March 5, 1993, against Waynesburg and March 11, 1994, against Babson. Shelley Parks holds the record with 23 against Salem State on March 9, 1985.
Lastly, Romanowski’s five steals tied for the fourth-most in an NCAA tournament game with six other players. Sophia Talutto also had five steals Thursday to join that group. Romanowski holds the record with nine steals last season against Bates.
The performance Thursday came hours after she was named a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-America honorable mention.
“I’m just glad everyone got a chance to see what we’ve been seeing since she arrived at Scranton,” Lady Royals coach Ben O’Brien said. “I’ve never seen a player impact the game quite like Kaeli does. She had a Kaeli performance tonight. It just happened to be in the national semifinal. She’s without a doubt one of the best players in the country. I was happy to see an All-American and (Thursday) she certainly backed up that well-deserved honor.”
Team effort
Scranton won Thursday night despite leading scorer Kaci Kranson having only five points.
“If you told me they put up 60 and she has five, it’s a little surprising,” NYU coach Meg Barber said.
Kranson hit a 3-pointer late in the first quarter to give Scranton a 14-5 lead. Her other basket came late in the third quarter when she finished off a 2-on-1 with Romanowski off a steal to make it 47-34. She played just over 23 minutes and was 2 for 8 from the field, including 1 of 3 from 3-point range. She also grabbed three rebounds.
O’Brien, however, said Kranson contributed in other ways.
“It was a total team effort,” O’Brien said. “Kaci obviously is an awesome player and draws a lot of attention. But what has made this team special this season is that we have a lot of other weapons out there. Kaci is smart enough and wise enough to understand that, hey, if I’m drawing all this attention, somebody on my team has to be open. I thought Kaci did a great job. She’s done that all year. Saturday, you never know who it’s going to be. But Kaci Kranson has been one of, if not the best player to ever play here. She did everything we asked her to do (Thursday) and I expect her to have a monster game Saturday.”
Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, it is the final game in a Scranton uniform for Kranson and fellow seniors Romanowski and Jenna Sloan. Kranson, who was named a WBCA All-American on Thursday, entered Saturday’s game with 1,992 career points, which ranks second in Lady Royals history.
Streaks and stuff
In November, the Lady Royals drew a lot of media attention for knocking off Division I University of Pittsburgh.
They were back in the spotlight Thursday. Stopping NYU’s historic 91-game winning streak was reported on by both national and New York media outlets. The Violets had not lost since March 11, 2023, to Transylvania in the Elite Eight. It was the second-longest streak in NCAA basketball history, men’s or women’s, behind only UConn’s 111-game streak from Nov. 23, 2014 to March 31, 2017.
According to a post on X by Riley Zayas, publisher of d3wbbscoop.substack.com, the Lady Royals now hold the third-longest active winning streak in NCAA women’s basketball at 32. UConn (34-0) is first at 50 games heading into its NCAA Division I tournament first-round opener Saturday against Texas-San Antonio. Colorado Mesa University (36-1) is second, taking a 33-game streak into the NCAA Division II Elite Eight on Tuesday.
Hey, Mr. Scott
Here is an interesting connection between Saturday’s finalists Denison and Scranton.
Actor Steve Carell is a 1984 graduate of Denison. Carell played Michael Scott on the popular TV series “The Office” about fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin based in Scranton.