<\/p>\n
Kaeli Romanowski enjoys being a disruptive force on the basketball court. Hounding and harassing an opposing point guard into committing a turnover. Poking the ball away from a player for a steal. Deflecting a pass or stepping into the passing lane to intercept it.<\/p>\n
Call it \u201cKaeli Chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a role she has perfected since she began playing the sport. She\u2019s so good at it, many have called her the most annoying player on the court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how I feel about that,\u201d Romanowski said. \u201cBut being able to apply that pressure so that my teammates have a little bit of an easier job, they don\u2019t have to worry about as many things.\u201d<\/p>\n
University of Scranton coach Ben O\u2019Brien said he has never been around a player \u2014 one he has coached nor an opponent \u2014 who impacts the game on defense the way Romanowski does.<\/p>\n
He calls the senior from Western Wayne \u201cthe tip of the spear\u201d that is the Lady Royals defense, which ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division III, allowing just 42.6 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is somebody you always have to account for because she\u2019s such a disruptive player on that end,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cIt\u2019s really unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Romanowski again will lead the defensive charge Thursday at 7:30 p.m. when the Lady Royals (31-0) face two-time defending national champion NYU (29-0) in the Final Four at Roanoke College\u2019s Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia. The first semifinal at 5 p.m. pits Denison University (28-2) against Wisconsin-Oshkosh (28-3). The winners meet Saturday at 4 p.m. for the national championship.<\/p>\n
Her 119 steals not only rank fifth in Division III, they are a single-season Scranton record, surpassing the previous mark of 99 Romanowski set last season. She is smart enough to know how to not be overaggressive and reach for a ball she has no chance of stealing and committing a foul.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien uses the adjectives tenacious and intense to describe Romanowski\u2019s play. He has never seen her get tired; her motor just keeps going and going. She just isn\u2019t that way in games, but in practice, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t have to say a word,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cJust by her actions, she sets the tone for our team and really is the heart and soul of our team. The way that she goes about things, again every day in practice, makes every other player around her realize they\u2019d better turn up their intensity level or she can make them look bad pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twice, Romanowski was Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Year \u2014 as a sophomore in 2024 and again this season. She led the conference in steals three times (2023, 2024, 2026) and finished second once (2025). She is a three-time All-Landmark selection, twice on the first team (2024, 2026) and once on the second team (2025).<\/p>\n
But Romanowski isn\u2019t only a defensive force. She does plenty on offense, too. She can shoot the ball and use her quickness to drive to the basket and pass to open teammates.<\/p>\n
She scored in double figures seven times this season and averages 5.2 points. She also averages 5.6 rebounds despite standing only 5-foot-4.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a credit to my teammates,\u201d Romanowski said. \u201cCoach always says you have to pursue 10 balls to get two or three. So we have that mindset to attack the glass every single possession. My teammates do an amazing job of boxing out and I\u2019m kind of the cleanup person. They\u2019re holding the fort down, boxing out the bigger girls, while my girl is getting back on defense in case we want to get out in transition. It\u2019s a team thing. I just so happen to come up with quite a few.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for her 125 assists, she also credits her teammates for their ability to finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a bit of a speed advantage at times, so I look to attack the basket,\u201d Romanowski said. \u201cIf the other girls\u2019 defenders aren\u2019t collapsing, I can take the shot. If they are collapsing, I know I have amazing shooters and playmakers on the outside who can put the ball in the basket. It\u2019s a team effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have really good ball movement this year and really good chemistry. We know where each other are and what we\u2019re going to do at any point in time. It makes it a lot easier to facilitate and hopefully create the best shot possible for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
After playing her freshman season at Elizabethtown College, Romanowski transferred to Scranton. She said it was a difficult decision, but calls it the best decision of her life.<\/p>\n
In 92 games (91 starts) as a Lady Royal, she has 643 points, 454 rebounds, 333 assists and 313 steals, which rank third on the program\u2019s all-time list. O\u2019Brien believes she\u2019s one of the best to play here.<\/p>\n
However, Romanowski doesn\u2019t think about her place in Scranton history. She and her teammates are focused on one thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to win,\u201d Romanowski said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where we are in the record book as long as we\u2019re winning. We have our sights set on the national championship. Once the season\u2019s over and our careers are over, we\u2019ll think about it a little more. But now, we\u2019re just living in the moment, hoping to bring home that national championship.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.thetimes-tribune.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The University of Scranton\u2019s Kaeli Romanowski shoots in the paint against Concordia-Moorhead in an NCAA Division III women\u2019s basketball sectional final at the John Long Center in Scranton on Saturday, March 14, 2026. (VIN RINELLA \/ UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON). Kaeli Romanowski enjoys being a disruptive force on the basketball court. Hounding and harassing an opposing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2336580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[350851,21848],"class_list":["post-2336579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-college-sports","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Romanowski-likes-to-create-chaos-for-Lady-Royals-\u2013-Scranton.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2336579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2336581,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336579\/revisions\/2336581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2336580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}