Scranton players celebrate during the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament Sweet 16 game Friday at the John Long Center. (Vin Rinella / University of Scranton)
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Scranton players celebrate during the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament Sweet 16 game Friday at the John Long Center. (Vin Rinella / University of Scranton)
SCRANTON – The University of Scranton dialed up the defensive pressure and held a dominating advantage in rebounding to cruise to a third straight Elite Eight appearance.
The Lady Royals earned their 30th win of the season in convincing fashion in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, cruising to a 76-59 win over Bates College on Friday at the John Long Center.
Scranton (30-0) will host Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday at 7 p.m. with a trip to the Final Four on the line. The Cobbers defeated Johns Hopkins, 64-59, in the other Sweet 16 game Friday at the Long Center.
Scranton, which ranks first in the country with 42.1 points against per game, put together an impressive first quarter, outscoring Bates, 27-8.
“I can’t say enough about the level of basketball that Scranton plays on both ends,” Bates head coach Alison Montgomery said. “I think going into the game I really felt like it was going to be really important that we could score the ball at a really high clip and we could not survive that first quarter. Obviously an inability to score the ball. Their pressure is just overwhelming and I just thought we couldn’t manage that early to get high-percentage shots.”
Scranton also dominated on the glass, holding Bates (26-4) to one offensive rebound in the first half and five in the game.
“They are a great offensive rebounding team so holding them to five offensive rebounds with the way they play, how physical they are and their size I was just super proud of our players,” Scranton head coach Ben O’Brien said. “At this point, it’s going to be a war on the boards and I just thought we had some great possessions where we were just fighting and were able to hold them to one-and-done and I think that’s going to be important (Saturday) as well.”
The Lady Royals, who never trailed, had a 12-0 run in the first quarter and led, 25-3, before a 3-pointer by Sarah Hughes.
The Bobcats cut the lead to 15 late in the second quarter, but Scranton closed the half on a 7-0 spurt that Kaci Kranson capped with a put-back at the buzzer to give the Lady Royals a 40-18 halftime lead. The Landmark Conference Player of the Year had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the first half and added seven more points in the second half.
“We’ve been practicing really hard all week and it’s just kind of the mindset that we’re worried about the other team, but it’s more focusing going into the game about ourselves and how we play and how we execute so I think it’s just performing at our best ability and knowing that it’s win or go home,” Kranson said. “Not everyone gets to make it to the Elite Eight so just leaving it all on the court.”
Scranton’s Katie Gorski led all scorers with a career-best 23 points on 10 of 14 shooting.
“A couple of my points came off of some really great passes from my guards making plays,” Gorski said. “They were able to draw my defender out away from me and make a really tough pass to me right at the block so a lot of credit to them and then (coach O’Brien) always tells me to attack the paint, use my athleticism so I listened to him.”
Scranton’s last two seasons ended in the quarterfinals and the Lady Royals will look to reach the Final Four for the 10th time and the first since 2019.
“They showed that they can not only throw a punch, but they can take a punch and they’ve been doing that all season so I can’t be more proud of them,” O’Brien said. “We were in this spot last year, it’s been a lot of work to get back to this spot. We very much left last season with sort of a bad taste in our mouth and we’ve done everything we possibly can to give ourselves another opportunity to get to that Final Four and so we’re totally focused and determined to make that happen (Saturday).”
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