2/22/22
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College Women's Basketball team turned in a stellar defensive effort, holding the Raritan Valley CC Lions to just 37 points, three in the fourth quarter, en route to a 56-37 victory in the Region XIX Division II Quarterfinals on Tuesday night in the Lackawanna Student Union.
 
The Falcons (10-11) took a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter, where they held the Lions without a field goal over the last seven-and-a-half minutes, and without a point over the last 6:40 of game time to secure the victory. Lackawanna College forced 24 turnovers for the game, 17 of them steals, and turned those takeaways into 18 points. The Falcons also managed to hit seven three-pointers, while holding Raritan to just 24% shooting for the game. Nya Morris led the way with 20 points for Lackawanna College, while McKeyah Duley added 14 points.
 
The win puts the Falcons into the Region XIX Division II Semi-Finals, where they will face the top-seed Union County College Owls on Thursday, February 24^th at a time to be determined.
 
From the start, both the Falcons and Lions battled to a 6-6 tie at the midway point of the first quarter. Raritain Valley (14-15) took their first and only lead on an Allison Seater free throw with 4:30 to go, making it 7-6 Lions. The Falcons would end the half on a 14-3 run over the last 4:30 of the quarter. Gabrielle Jackson hit a jumper to give the Falcons the 8-7 lead, and McKeyah Duley hit a three-pointer from the right wing to make it 11-7 just 30 seconds later. After a Raritan free throw, the Falcons found another bucket from Nya Morris in transition to make it 13-8, while an Ashante Amos three came 90 seconds later to make it 16-8. They rounded out their scoring with a Thays Torres runner to briefly give the Falcons a ten-point lead, before Tiana Pressley scored before the horn to make it 18-10 after one quarter.
 
Nya Morris got the scoring started with a three-pointer just 20 seconds in, and a few baskets back and forth made it 23-14 Falcons with 7:13 to go in the second. Nearly two minutes would go by before points were scored, coming from two free throws from Seater. Both teams would keep trading buckets back-and-forth, and the Lions had it within 28-20 with 3:15 to go. With Morris and Jackson on the bench with two fouls, apiece, and the Falcons needing a spark, Cianna Roberts broke the scoring funk with a driving bucket, re-establishing the ten-point lead for Lackawanna College. After an empty Raritan possession, the Falcons drew up a three-pointer for Daeja Cromartie in the left corner. The shot bounced high, but Thays Torres hustled to grab the offensive board, putting it back up and in before the horn to make it 32-20, Falcons, at the half. Lackawanna shot 39% from the field in the first half, while holding Raritan to 27% shooting and forcing 13 turnovers.
 
The Falcons got things started in the third quarter with a steal that led to a lay-up in transition by Morris, while a Duley three-pointer a few minutes later made it 37-22 Falcons with 7:14 to play in the third. The Falcons and Lions both went nearly five minutes without a bucket after that, with the only points coming on free throws. The teams combined to go 0-for-13 over that span, while also combining to go 7-for-12 from the free throw line. A Gabrielle Jackson three-pointer broke the scoring streak, making it 41-28 Falcons with 2:20 to play. Rhea Martin answered with a three for the Lions, but a Morris jumper made it 43-31 Falcons with 1:53 to play in the quarter. Judith Girones Gonzalez, who came into the contest scoring over 20 points in each of her last three games, finally scored her first bucket of the night just before the quarter ended with a long three-point shot, cutting the lead to 43-34 for the Falcons as the buzzer sounded.
 
With the lead below double-digits and the Falcons needing to hang on, Lackawanna responded with an incredible defensive quarter. After a missed shot from the Lions, the Falcons scored on a baseline lay-up from McKeyah Duley after great penetration from Cianna Roberts. After the Falcons forced a turnover, Duley returned the favor to Roberts, setting Cianna up for an open jumper from deep, banging it home and putting the Falcons on top at 48-34 just 50 seconds in. Brie Opdyke, who led Raritan Valley with 14 points, would get the Lions on the board with a driving lay-up with 7:53 to play, but that bucket would be the last made shot for Raritan Valley for the rest of the game. The only other points they'd score would be a pair of shots from Opdyke on the free throw line. The Lions would go 1-for-10 from the field in the quarter, while the Falcons, who went nearly five minutes without a bucket on offense, managed to find a trio of scores late to put the game out of reach.
 
Lackawanna College advances into the Region XIX DII Semi-Finals, where they'll take on the #1 Union County College Owls on Thursday, February 24^th. Union defeated the Falcons in both of their meetings this year, including their last match-up, a 60-51 win for the Owls at the Lackawanna Student Union on January 25^th. In that game, the Falcons overcame a double-digit lead to close within one point, and came back again to get it within two points with less than 90 seconds left before the Owls pulled away to win. The Owls have won four straight against Lackawanna College, and are 5-1 against the Falcons since last season.