<\/p>\n
Scoring struggles were the undoing for the University of Scranton on Saturday, as the Lady Royals couldn\u2019t find offense down the stretch in a 55-41 loss to Denison University in the NCAA Division III women\u2019s basketball national championship game on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
It was a bit of a start-and-stop day for the Lady Royals, who scored just one point in the second quarter before scoring 23 of their 41 total points in the fourth quarter, including a three at the buzzer from Meghan Lamanna to give Scranton a 34-33 lead heading to the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Bennett hit a three at the 9:03 mark to give Scranton a 39-36 lead over Denison; from there, the Lady Royals were held scoreless over the next six minutes and only managed one more basket the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
Denison, meanwhile, went on a 19-2 run to regain the lead and put too much distance between them and Scranton for the Lady Royals to catch up.<\/p>\n
This was the first loss of the season for the University of Scranton, who ended the 91-game winning streak of New York University on Thursday in the semifinals to reach their first Div. III title game since 1985, and second in school history.<\/p>\n
The Royals leaned on their defense early to keep themselves in the game through some scoring woes in the first half. Denison led 11-10 after one, and was only able to stretch the lead to 19-11 at the half despite holding Scranton to just a single point in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Scranton woke up in the third quarter, with Kaeli Romanowski tying the game at 23 with a layup and then putting Scranton ahead for the first time since the opening few minutes of the game with a layup.<\/p>\n
The two teams traded the lead back-and-forth until Lamanna\u2019s three at the buzzer put Scranton ahead by one heading to the fourth.<\/p>\n
As a team, Scranton shot just over 20% from the floor, under 20% from deep and shot their free throws at a 42.9% clip.<\/p>\n
Lamanna and Kaci Kranson each had 10 points to lead the Lady Royals; Kranson became just the second player in program history to score 2,000 career points.<\/p>\n
Romanowski and Bennett each added nine points, with Romanowski proving to be a force on the boards with 17 rebounds (eight on the offensive glass).<\/p>\n
Denison\u2019s Abby Cooch led all scorers with 18 points. Ada Taute chipped in 15 points to help lead Denison to the national title. This was the first-ever appearance in the national title game for the Big Red, whose 30 total wins set a school record<\/p>\n
Scranton ends the year with a 32-1 overall record including the postseason, setting a new program record for wins in a season, with the aforementioned streak-ending win over NYU as well as a win over Div. I Pitt on the resume.<\/p>\n
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