SCRANTON — Another solid all-around performance enabled the University of Scranton women’s basketball team to knock off Tufts University, 73-42, in a nonconference matchup Sunday afternoon at the John Long Center.
Four players scored in double figures for the No. 2-ranked Lady Royals (6-0), led by Kaci Kranson with 18 points. Katie Gorski and Elizabeth Bennett each posted double doubles as Gorski had 12 points and 11 rebounds and Bennett 11 points and 10 boards. Meghan Lamanna chipped in 11 points.
Defensively, Scranton forced 19 Tufts turnovers, off which it scored 23 points, and held the Jumbos to 34.1% shooting from the field (15 for 44). Gorski had three steals and two blocks. Also, the Lady Royals held a 39-29 rebounding advantage, including 17-8 on the offensive boards.
“We talk a lot that you need talented players to win, which we have,” Scranton coach Ben O’Brien said. “But we also talk about being tenacious on defense and together on offense. I think those things came together in this game.”
It spoiled a homecoming for former Lady Royals standout Meredith Mesaris, who is in her first season as Tufts coach. Mesaris played at Scranton from 2012-15 and ranks fourth on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,758 points.
“Their defense was really good. They have some length that we’re definitely missing inside and their guard position,” Mesaris said. “They did a really good job of rebounding on the offensive side and definitely capitalized on our turnovers and mistakes.”
Mesaris was impressed with the Lady Royals, especially after hearing they upset Division I University of Pittsburgh last week.
“That was great for Division III in general,” Mesaris said. “I had a lot of outreach, obviously, because I’m an alum. I’m happy for them, happy for their success. I think they’re going to have a really great season and long postseason run.”
Two Annie Ryan free throws with 6:27 left in the second quarter had Tufts within 25-21. But the Lady Royals turned up the defense, outscoring the Jumbos the rest of the quarter, 15-2, to open a 40-23 halftime lead. Kranson had six points in the run, Gorski and Sophia Talutto four each and Kaitlyn Raguso two.
During that stretch, Tufts missed five of six shots and committed five turnovers.
“We knew coming into the game that they are a very good and talented team that always plays hard,” Gorski said. “We knew they would make some shots, so we had to keep sticking to our defense and pressure them on the back end so they had a hard time getting into their offense and their 3-point shots. The more we stuck with it, we were able to get a lot of stops and steals and take them out of it. That definitely was a big factor.”
To begin the second half, the Lady Royals continued the run by scoring the first nine points of the third quarter. Kaeli Romanowski, Kranson and Gorski had baskets and Lamanna hit a 3-pointer to make it 49-23 with seven minutes left.
“Our team is very big on not caring who scores, caring that we score,” Gorski said. “We’re very generous with the ball. If we have a good shot, but our teammate has a better shot, we’ll make that extra pass. We like to make sure we get the best shot every single time and it shows with multiple people having double figures. Teams can’t really guard multiple scorers like that.”
Two free throws by Talutto one minute into the fourth quarter gave the Lady Royals their largest lead, 64-32.
Coming off the upset victory over Pitt last Sunday, it might have been easy for the Lady Royals to have a bit of a letdown this week. Instead, they went 3-0, not allowing 50 points in any game and winning by an average margin of 32 points.
“Coach immediately told us that Pitt was a great win, it was great to enjoy that, but now the only important thing that matters is the next game,” Gorski said. “We have to leave all that in the past and prove to people what we can do. Every game needs to be better. We can’t get strung up on the attention that we got from Pitt. We need to keep on focusing on the next game, which today was Tufts.”
O’Brien was pleased with how his team responded, especially in Wednesday’s Landmark Conference opener at Drew.
“All of us were in a situation we had never experienced before and weren’t sure how we would respond,” O’Brien said. “I thought that first game was important to put the Pitt game behind us. They came out very intense. I was proud of the way we played in the Drew game.”
As for Tufts (3-2), Mesaris said her team is young, but has a high ceiling.
“We’re playing two first-years almost 40 minutes and a lot of kids who had injuries last year or were playing behind grad students,” Mesaris said. “So we have a lot of inexperience and a lot of young kids. Just trying to figure out how to play through this.”
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