2/18/25
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – Another wire-to-wire victory helped Lackawanna College women's basketball close its region regular season schedule in style, as the Falcons shot 46.6% from the floor and ran away for the 83-67 win at home against Middlesex College in Region XIX DII play on Tuesday evening inside the historic Lackawanna College Student Union.
 
The Falcons (17-6, 12-4) rocketed out to a 17-4 lead in the first quarter, using opportunistic, pressure defense to frustrate the visitors. Middlesex (12-14, 5-10) made two shots in the first quarter, the first making it 6-2, Falcons at 5:11, and the second making it 16-4, Falcons, at 1:02 to play. In-between, it was all one-way traffic for Lackawanna College.
 
Even as Middlesex settled in in the second quarter, the Falcons expanded their advantage out to 17 at halftime, then hit the gas to start the third. Jayla South (Long Pond, PA) scored a lay-up that started a 9-0 run through the first two minutes of game time in the third, as the Falcons opened a 46-20 advantage. Later, leading 51-28 with 5:23 to go in the third, Lackawanna hit a 6-0 burst, as Desiree White (Carlisle, PA) scored a runner in the lane, E'ternity Aiken (Wilkes-Barre, PA) scored off a nice feed down low, and Salote Franklin (Philadelphia, PA) converted on a lay-up in transition to make it 57-28 with 3:48 to go in the period. The Falcons would take a 61-41 lead into the fourth.
 
Middlesex, to its credit, played with pride and got the game to a 13-point deficit at 79-66 with 1:19 to go. Out of a timeout, Aiken was subbed in and buried her first career three-pointer on the right wing, sending the Lackawanna bench into a frenzy and putting a stamp on the win for the Falcons.
 
The Falcons hit eight three-pointers, held a 41-31 rebounding advantage, and put four players in double-figures scoring. Aiken led all scorers with a game-high 20 points, along with eleven rebounds and four assists. South came off the bench to score 14 points, while Franklin added 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and three steals. Ania Crocker (Freeport, NY) had ten points and four assists, and White added eight points and three rebounds.
 
Middlesex shot 35.3% from the floor and hit just 1-for-11 from the three-point line. The Colts were led by Alyssa Rice's 16 points, five rebounds, five assists, and five steals, while Kezia Feaster added 15 points.
 
Lackawanna is now 8-2 since the new year, and the Falcons have won four straight games. The win locks the Falcons into the third seed in next week's Region XIX Division II Women's Basketball Championships, which will be held in Scranton at the historic Lackawanna College Student Union gymnasium. The Falcons will play the two-seed Harcum College Bears in the semi-final round on Thursday, February 27^th. Lackawanna and Harcum split their two meetings this season, with the Falcons winning at home in November, 76-72. The Bears won the match-up in January, 75-46, in Bryn Mawr.
 
Lackawanna has one more regular season game on its schedule, as the Falcons travel to take on Monroe University in a non-region contest on Wednesday, February 19^th. Tip-off is set for 5:00pm ET inside the Monroe Athletic Complex. It'll be the first game of a doubleheader, with the men's teams following at 7:00pm ET.