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March 4, 2006

Scranton 80, Gwynedd-Mercy 72
2006 NCAA Tournament Second-Round Game
Griffins overcome second-half deficit, but rally falls short

Junior Ashley Vandiver led the Griffins with 17 points. (GMC Sports Information)

Box Score

SCRANTON, PA - Down by as many as 21 points midway in the second half, Gwynedd-Mercy rallied but came up short in a 80-72 loss to the University of Scranton in a 2006 NCAA Tournament Second-Round Game Saturday evening.

GM trailed 65-44 with 9:16 remaining but stormed back and cut the deficit to just three at 75-72 as junior Michelle Sgrillo (Philadelphia, Pa./Cardinal Dougherty) hit a three-pointer with 44 ticks left. But the Royals' Allison Matt would hit five of six from the line to hold off the upset-minded Griffins.

The loss ends Gwynedd-Mercy's season at 25-4. The second-ranked (d3hoops.com) Royals go to 28-1 and advance to next weekend's Sweet 16.

Junior Ashley Vandiver (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan) led Gwynedd with 17 points while sophomore Karen Tierney (Philadelphia, Pa./Kennedy-Kenrick) added 13.

Matt scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the second half for Scranton. Tiffaney Williams tabbed a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Royals improved to 3-0 vs. the Griffins in NCAA Tournament games.

The Griffins had trouble on offense early, as the squad did not get on the board until Vandiver's three-point play made it an 8-3 game 6:06 into the contest. Gwynedd erased a 21-14 hole with a 14-6 run and took a one-point lead on a trey from freshman Kristy Cramp (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley) with 2:41 left in the half. Scranton answered by closing the period on an 11-0 run capped by Julie Brophy's layup at the buzzer to give the Royals a 38-28 lead at the break.

Senior Jillian Chiarantona added 12 points. (GMC Sports Information)

Scranton held a double-digit lead throughout the second half before a 19-6 run over a five-minute span by the Griffins made things interesting.

For the game, GM hit 22-of-58 (37%) from the floor while UofS hit 28-of-59 (47%). Gwynedd hit eight treys on the night but committed 20 turnovers and was outrebounded, 38-32. Cramp finished with 12 points as well as senior Jillian Chiarantona (Abington, Pa./Gwynedd-Mercy Academy).

The Griffins were making their sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

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