University of Scranton’s Kaeli Romanowski controls the ball during the NCAA Division III second round game against Otterbein at the University of Scranton in Scranton on Saturday, March 07, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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University of Scranton’s Kaeli Romanowski controls the ball during the NCAA Division III second round game against Otterbein at the University of Scranton in Scranton on Saturday, March 07, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
SCRANTON — Otterbein University started hot in the NCAA Division III women’s basketball second-round game. But it was only a matter of time before the University of Scranton got rolling.
Five players scored in double figures as the Lady Royals posted a methodical 82-43 victory over the Lady Cardinals on Saturday night at the John Long Center.
Kaci Kranson led the way with 17 points. Katie Gorski and Sophia Talutto each had 14 points, Elizabeth Bennett contributed 12 points and Kaeli Romanowski scored 11 points along with seven rebounds and three steals.
Over the final 35-plus minutes, the Lady Royals held Otterbein to 31 points. Overall, the Lady Cardinals shot 34.7 percent (17 for 49) and committed 19 turnovers.
Scranton (29-0) advances to the Sweet 16 on Friday against Bates College, which rallied for a 74-70 overtime win over Smith College in its second-round game. The site and time is to be announced. Also in that part of the bracket are Johns Hopkins, which defeated Baldwin-Wallace, 59-46, and Concordia-Moorhead, which downed Ripon, 68-65.
Mattie Walburn led Otterbein (23-6) with 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Nicole Terry added 10 points.
To open the game, Otterbein hit six of its first seven shots to take a 12-9 lead with 4:20 left in the first quarter.
Coming out of the media timeout, however, Scranton switched to a zone defense. It disrupted the Lady Cardinals’ fast start and enabled the Lady Royals to score the next 10 points and take the lead for good.
“Otterbein is a really good team with several very good shooters,” Scranton coach Ben O’Brien said. “They came out hot and some of those shots were difficult shots. Contested, off-the-dribble, deep twos in some cases.
“So just as a little change of pace, we changed things up. I did think it got them standing around a little bit for a short period of time until they started to have some success. Then we switched back. But yes, I think our players responded to that run less about the zone and more about their energy and tenacity on defense that really turned that in the first quarter.”
Added Romanowski: “We always pride ourselves on our defense. We were kind of getting beat a little in the beginning, but we were able to adapt and change to that zone. We pride ourselves on being tenacious and together. So the zone gave them kind of a different look, made them adapt a little bit. We were able to stay together and force them into some shots they didn’t want to take.”
Gorski hit a foul shot and Talutto followed with a 3-pointer. Kranson scored off a feed from Kaitlyn Raguso, then hit the first of two free throws. She missed the second, but Bennett grabbed the rebound and hit a turnaround jumper to make it 19-12 with 1:07 left in the quarter.
During that stretch Otterbein missed four shots and committed two turnovers.
“Obviously, we didn’t handle it well and it slowed us down,” Otterbein coach Diana Noles said. “It took us out of our flow and we were a little bit hesitant about what we wanted to run. We weren’t able to get good touches inside. I think we’re a great man-to-man team, I think we’re a tough matchup, so we’ve known all year that zone is the thing we’ve got to adjust and get better at. But that adjustment was enough to slow us down and get them back in control.”
Leading, 21-15, after one quarter, a 3-pointer by Kranson and layups by Romanowski and Jenna Sloan enabled Scranton to extend its advantage to 28-17 with 7:09 left in the second.
Three consecutive Otterbein baskets — one by Walburn, two by Terry — trimmed the deficit to 28-23. But that would be as close as the Lady Cardinals would get as the Lady Royals closed the quarter in an 11-2 run to take a 39-25 halftime lead. Bennett capped the outburst with a 3-pointer right before the first-half buzzer.
“We always try to end the half on a good note. It kind of demoralizes the other team,” Bennett said. “We really try to hone in on our defense and get those stops and our defense will flow into our offense and get our energy up.”
Things got very physical in the third quarter as Otterbein was whistled for 13 fouls. Scranton scored 17 of its 25 points in the quarter from the foul line to increase the advantage to 64-37 heading into the fourth quarter.
“Otterbein is a very physical team and they’re going to challenge you to continue to go at them,” O’Brien said. “A lot of teams eventually, because of how physical they are, will stop attacking them because they don’t want to get hit anymore. I thought our players were relentless and not do that. We were going to continue to attack them, continue to make them foul us. I was just incredibly impressed by how our players persevered through that physicality all game long. They did an unbelievable job.”
A 13-2 start to the fourth quarter left no doubt that the Lady Royals were headed back to the Sweet 16. As O’Brien began subbing out his starters midway through the fourth, they received a standing ovation from the appreciative Long Center crowd.
“Otterbein challenges you in a lot of ways and we come out of this game a better team than when we went in,” O’Brien said. “That’s the objective. We’re going to continue to try these next couple days to prepare for our (next) opponent, learn from these games, what we did well, what are some areas where we can still improve and then try to be the best versions of ourselves next week.”
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