On Saturday, Feb. 11, in Elizabethtown, Pa., the Elizabethtown College women’s basketball team faced off against Scranton University in Thompson Gymnasium. A last second basket for the Royals tied the game and would force overtime, where they would outlast the Blue Jays to escape with a 79-72 win. Sophomore Summer McNulty had a career-high 35 points in the game while sophomore DaniRae Renno recorded another double-double.
Etown started off strong, jumping to a 12-4 lead after back-to-back threes from junior Cyleigh Wilson and sophomore Lindsay Boyd. The Royals would come back, however, as they finished the quarter on a 14-3 run to take an 18-15 lead into the second.
Scranton started the second quarter on a 6-0 run before McNulty drilled a three to cut the deficit down to six, 24-18. The Royals were able to keep distance between themselves and the Blue Jays and were ahead by as many as 12, 32-20, with 3:05 to go before halftime.
Etown dug in and worked their way back into the game, starting with McNulty. Her layup with 2:28 left got the Jays going. Then, after Renno’s block, Wilson started the fast break and Renno went end-to-end to finish off the play with the bucket. A missed three point shot by Scranton was grabbed by Wilson and in 10 seconds, McNulty had knocked down one of her career-high 14 shots, tied for most by a Landmark player this season, to make it a six-point game.
The Jays’ scoring run continued as King shot from the paint with under a minute remaining in the second. The Royals had not shot over the final few minutes and Etown continued to take advantage. McNulty was able to get to the foul line with 19 seconds left and knocked down a pair of foul shots. Her foul shots made it a 34-30 game.
Scranton would lead 35-30 at the half after junior Maddy Ryan split a pair at the line with three seconds to go.
Senior Bridget Monaghan, who led the visitors with 26 points, drained a three two minutes into the third to cap an 8-2 run to start the quarter and Scranton’s lead was back into double digits again. Graduate transfer Sam Rajza’s jumper a minute and a half later made it a 13-point game, 45-32.
There was no backing down from the Blue Jays, as they surged their way back once again. First-year Kaeli Romanowski scored a three-point shot from the right corner. McNulty was good in the paint, and Renno’s jumper went in as Etown scored on three straight possessions to get within six, 45-39.
McNulty hit back-to-back shots for Etown as they held the Royals scoreless over the final 3 minutes and 54 seconds of the third. Junior Taylor Huyck was fouled at the defensive end and with the Blue Jays in the bonus, she went to the line and hit both of her attempts to make it a three-point game, 51-48, which is how the quarter ended.
Down five early in the fourth quarter, McNulty found Renno for the layup and then a Scranton turnover led to Romanowski’s second trey of the game, this time from the left wing, which tied the game at 56 points for each team. Romanowski and McNulty kept the scoring going for the Jays as they would eventually take their first lead since the first quarter with 5 minutes and 47 seconds to go in the game. McNulty knocked down another jumper and then Romanowski’s shot in the paint fell and Etown was now up by four, 62-58, with 3 minutes and 51 seconds left.
Elizabethtown had the Royals down two, 65-63, with 10 seconds left. A timeout was used to advance the ball to half court as Scranton needed a basket to tie or a three to win. Monaghan was able to get into the paint and attempt the layup. It didn’t go, but Ryan grabbed the miss and got the putback with 1.5 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.
Scranton scored the first eight points of the overtime period and led 73-65 with over half the time gone. McNulty dropped in a three from the right wing, her third of the contest, to cut Jays’ deficit to five. She followed that up with a jumper in the paint on the fast break, set up by her own defensive rebound.
The Royals were able to do damage at the foul line, going 8-for-10 in the overtime alone after 13 free throw attempts all game prior. Monaghan was able to get to the line for all 10 of Scranton’s attempts, hitting eight. McNulty recorded all seven points in overtime for Elizabethtown to finish her night with 35, the most since Lydia Lawson’s 37-point outburst at Susquehanna on January 12, 2019.
The Blue Jays finished out the regular season on the road at Drew on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m.
