Box Score Branchburg, NJ – The last time the Lackawanna Women's Basketball Team won a Region XIX Tournament Title, not one of its current players had even been born.  It had been 25 years, since the Lady Falcons program had hoisted the trophy.  After losing to Union County College in last year's final, Lackawanna was focused on a different outcome this year.  During the regular season, they split with Union County, with both teams winning on their home floors.  With all the success the Lady Falcons have had this year, they were focused on bringing a championship back to Scranton.    

The first quarter began with a missed Kyla Smith 3-pointer.  Union quickly took advantage and scored the first two points of the game.  From the beginning, both teams came with a lot of energy.  The Lady Owls scored again and jumped out to a 4-0 lead.  However, Kiana Williams put the Lady Falcons on the board, 4-2.  That was followed by a Briaunna McCullough put back, which tied the game.  McCullough would give Lackawanna the lead, 6-4 and Union would call a timeout to try to stop the Lady Falcons' run.  Out of the timeout, Union tied it up with two free throws, but Kiana Williams put Lackawanna back up, 8-6.  Williams would have to leave the game, though when she picked up her 2nd foul.  Keyanah Price came back in and converted a 3-point play, to go up 11-7, but Union would answer with three straight points, to trim the lead to 11-10.  On the next play, Union took the lead off of a turnover, 12-11.  After another Union basket, they would take the largest lead of the game, 14-11.  Union continued to get the ball inside and as the quarter ended, they would hold a 21-17 lead.

Union converted a layup to start the second quarter, pushed their lead back to 6 points.  However, Jamie Brann took an offensive rebound at the other end, and put it back for 2 points.   Briaunna McCullough and Ciara Loyd would tie the game with five straight points, at 24-24.  Kyla Smith put the Lady Falcons up 27-24 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.  On the next possession, Smith was fouled driving to the basket, and connected on 1 of 2 free throws.  Union then answered with a 3-pointer, to cut the lead to one.  Alayah Cowan came off the bench and drove the ball in for a basket, to push the lead to 30-27.  Lackawanna scored the next 4 points and forced Union to call a timeout.  Keyanah Price connected on a layup out of the time out and the Lady Falcons went on an 8-2 run to take a 38-29 lead.  As the half ended, Lackawanna would take that lead into the locker room.

As the third quarter began, both teams tried to seize the momentum.  The Lady Falcons were able to pressure Union, but the Lady Owls would strike first off a turnover, to pull within 6 points, 38-31.  Another Union basket trimmed the lead to 38-33, but Ciaira Loyd was fouled going to the basket and connected on both free throws, to go back up by 7 points.  Union cut it to 5 points, but Mileisha Troche drained a 3-pointer to go up 43-35.  Union followed that with 9-0 run, to take the lead to 44-43.  A steal by Ciaira Loyd resulted in a fast break layup, to put Lackawanna back up 45-44.  They would keep the lead and at the end of the quarter, the Lady Falcons saw themselves up 49-47.

Lackawanna scored the first two points of the quarter, to increase their lead to 4 points.  The pace of the game did not slow down, as both teams continued to push the ball up the court.  Keyanah Price pushed the lead back to six, but Union would score the next 4 points to cut the score to 53-51.  However, Kyla Smith took a pass from Ciaira Loyd and hit a 3-pointer from the wing, to increase the lead to five.  Union cut the lead to one, with a 3-pointer, but Briaunna McCullough took the ball down the court for a layup to go back up by three.  Union would tie the game at 60-60 with 2:30 left in the game, however Ciaira Loyd hit a long 3-pointer to go up by three.  Union answered, with a 3 of their own, to tie the game back up.  Briaunna McCullough was called for a defensive foul and Union was able to hit 1 of 2 free throws to take the one point lead, 64-63.  With 32 seconds left in the game, Jamie Brann grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back to give the Lady Falcons the one point lead, 65-64.  However, with 20 seconds left, Union drained a 3-pointer from the baseline to take a 67-65 advantage.  On the next play, Keyanah Price took the ball down low for the basket and the foul.  Price missed the free throw and Union was fouled on the next possession. However, they missed both free throws, giving Lackawanna one final chance to win the game.  Ciaira Loyd was unable to hit the shot and the game would go to overtime. 

In overtime, Union struck first on a fast break layup, to go up by two and then Keyanah Price cut it to one, with a free throw.  Jamie Brann was fouled after grabbing a defensive rebound, but missed both free throws.  Brann would have another chance, but only made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the Union lead to 1.  The Lady Owls made a free throw to take a 73-71 lead and then hit a shot to go up 75-71.  Ciaira Loyd cut the lead to two with a drive to the basket and then forced a turnover on the inbounds play.  However, on the next possession McCullough was called for a walk on what would have been the tying basket.  Union increased their lead to 3 points and the Lady Falcons would have the ball with 25 seconds remaining, to try to tie it up.  However, they would through an errant pass out of bounds.  Union made a free throw to go up by 4 points, but Ciaira Loyd would be fouled on a layup and convert the 3-point play.  On the inbounds, Lackawanna forced a jump ball and got the ball back but turned the ball over and Union would win the game 78-76.

While it is certainly not the outcome the Lady Falcons were hoping for, they played hard and went toe to toe with Union.  Lackawanna was led by Keyanah Price with 18 points and 17 rebounds, followed by Ciaira Loyd with 15 points.  Kyla Smith added 11 points, while Briaunna McCullough had 10 points.  Coming off the bench, Jamie Brann scored 9 points, had 7 rebounds and drew 5 charges.  The Lady Falcons will await to hear where they will play next weekend in the District game.