Scranton’s Jenna Sloan (12) is covered by Johns Hopkins’ Lauren Knudson at the University of Scranton’s Long Center Friday, March 14, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Scranton’s Jenna Sloan (12) is covered by Johns Hopkins’ Lauren Knudson at the University of Scranton’s Long Center Friday, March 14, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Jenna Sloan typically is the player on the University of Scranton women’s basketball team who does her job with little-to-no fanfare. The senior guard is more of a defender and a playmaker than a scorer.
Yet during the Elite Eight game Saturday against Concordia-Moorhead, it was hard not to notice Sloan at key moments.
On the opening possession of the second half, with the shot clock winding down, she hit a foul-line jumper to beat the buzzer. On the next possession, she put back a Kaci Kranson miss, part of a 7-0 run to open the third quarter.
Then, to open the fourth quarter, with the Cobbers trying to mount a comeback, Sloan made back-to-back steals. Finally, with 2:21 remaining, she found herself wide open behind the 3-point line on the right wing. She shot and made it — her first three of the season. When the ball swished through the net, the John Long Center crowd erupted, knowing the Lady Royals were on their way to the Final Four.
Sloan finished with a season-high seven points, along with two rebounds, four assists and three steals in a 67-42 victory that advanced Scranton (31-0) to the NCAA Division III semifinals against fellow unbeaten and two-time defending national champion NYU (29-0) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Roanoke College’s Cregger Center in Salem, Virignia. The first semifinal features Denison University (28-2) against Wisconsin-Oshkosh (28-3) at 5 p.m. The winners advance to the championship game Saturday at 4 p.m.
“She’s been an unsung hero for our team all season long,” Scranton coach Ben O’Brien said.
Right before she shot her 3-pointer, Sloan hesitated before releasing the ball, almost in disbelief at how wide open she actually was.
“Normally I’m just know for my defense, getting assists and getting my teammates the ball where they can be in position to score,” Sloan said. “Now that we’re so far into the season, 30-something games in, everybody’s guarding me as not a scorer and not somebody who’s looking to shoot the ball. So I know if I take a shot when it’s wide open, that’s going to make my teammates’ jobs easier and help make them more open. I was only looking for my shot with the thought in the back of my mind that my teammates will get more open because of it.”
She averages just 1.8 points, but Sloan’s contributions are elsewhere. She is second on the team with 96 assists and fifth with 36 steals. Committing only nine turnovers, her assist/turnover ratio of 10.67 leads Division III.
“The way she passes the ball, her court vision, her defense, she can guard everybody, her calmness with the ball, with her and Kaeli (Romanowski) as a ball-handling duo, it doesn’t get any better than those two,” O’Brien said. “Jenna’s been a huge contributor for our team all season. It’s been difficult for Jenna to stay on the court. She’s been struggling with some knee issues and things like that. Just to be able to be to be healthy enough to play on a consistent basis has taken a lot for her off the court to do that. She’s someone who has just made huge plays for us all season.”
Scranton leads Division III in scoring defense, giving up just 42.6 points, and Sloan is a big part of that. The Lady Royals will need that defense against NYU, which has 91 straight wins. That is the second-longest streak in NCAA basketball history, men’s or women’s. UConn women are first at 111 games from Nov. 23, 2014 to March 31, 2017.
The Violets own the No. 1 scoring offense in Division III with 88.2 points (Scranton is second with 81.0). Senior guard Caroline Peper leads the way with 18.5 points and 108 3-pointers, which ranks second in Division III. Junior Brooke Batchelor adds 13.5 points and 42 3-pointers. Sophomore Zahra Alexander chips in 12.3 points and 20 threes, while freshman Alia Kaibara contributes 10.1 points and 55 threes.
“It’s going to start with our defense,” O’Brien said. “Our ability to guard them, bother them and rebound the ball. Those things are going to be important. Put some pressure on them, try to only give up tough shots and hold them to one shot. That’s the most important thing.
“They’re very talented, they have a lot of shooters. They average close to 12 threes per game, so they’re able to spread you out with a lot of different shooters. You have a lot of players that you have to concern yourself with on the perimeter. And they also have players that can use that space to attack you off the dribble. So trying to find that right balance of being able to take away their 3-point shooters and their drivers is very challenging.”
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