Second-Half Pulls Women's
Basketball Away From #13 Scranton, 70-45
SCRANTON, Pa. (12/14/09) - The Kean University
women's basketball team used a pair of key second-half runs to pull
away for a 70-45 victory over #13 University of Scranton in a
battle of nationally ranked teams on Monday evening.
Freshman Naimah Clemons (Newark, N.J.) scored
all 16
points in the second half and scored five points in a 12-0 run that
gave the seventh-ranked Cougars a 22 point lead at 60-38 with just
under six minutes remaining.
Leading by five at the break, the Cougars opened the second-half
on a 12-3 run, scoring the final nine points of the run to build a
double-digit lead at 44-30 less than five minutes into the
half.
Clemons fueled the run with a three-pointer to open the half and
closed the run with a lay-up, as she scored seven of the Cougars 12
points in the first five minutes.
The Cougars connected on 5-of-6 free throws in the final six
minutes and built their largest lead with the 25-point advantage
with 2:12 remaining and as the final margin of victory.
In a back-and-forth opening half, the Royals took their largest
lead of the game at 14-11 on a three-pointer by sophomore
Sidney Jaques (Rosemont, N.J.) with 8:21 remaining in the
first half.
Kean answered with seven unanswered points, including four
points from rookie Nicol Biesek
(South Pasadena, Calif.), to take the lead for
good. The Royals would tie the game up on three more
occasions, before Kean closed the half on a 9-4 run to build a
32-27 lead.
Biesek (pictured right) scored all 11 of her points in the final
eight minutes of the opening half, while senior guard
Melissa Beyruti (Union City, N.J.) finished with
13 points. Junior Tiffany Patrick (Piscataway,
N.J.) finished with a game-high 10 rebounds and added
seven points and three blocks.
The Cougars forced Scranton into a season-high 24 turnovers and
a season-low 23.8 percent shooting from the field.
Junior guard Megan Kopecki (Millington, N.J.) and
rookie Tayler Pallotta (Dunmore, Pa.) scored 10 points
apiece for the Royals.
The Cougars host the University of Mary Washington on Thursday,
December 17, at 6:30 p.m.
