SCRANTON, Pa. – The TCNJ women's basketball team gave No. 6 Scranton a major scare on Saturday, leading by double digits in the fourth quarter before their upset bid was thwarted by a furious Royals rally that allowed the hosts to escape with a 76-69 victory.
 
Julia Setaro (19 points) and Izzy Leazier (17) paced four players in double figures for the Lions (2-2), who stunned the powerhouse Royals and their home faithful with a barrage of early 3-pointers and kept the purple and white at arm's length for much of the night. TCNJ was up 11 after three quarters and still led by six (63-57) with only four minutes and change remaining, but Scranton – which won its first 28 games a year ago before suffering its only loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament – rattled off 15 straight points to turn the tables.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Scranton (3-0) led 9-3 early, but the Lions quickly showed they weren't going anywhere with 3-pointers by Katie Fricker, Leazier, and Isabella Cafao during an 11-2 burst that gave the visitors a 14-11 lead
• Leazier sandwiched a pair of buckets – one of them a triple – around a jumper by Arianna McCleod before Setaro's three-point play made it 24-15. Two free throws by Nina Branchizio with one second left in the quarter sent the Lions into the second stanza with a 26-17 advantage
• TCNJ had the Royals in a deep hole in the second quarter, continuing to fire away and upping their separation to as much as 15 points (39-24) at the 4:51 mark on Leazier's second trey of the period.
• Scranton scored at the first-half buzzer to get within 42-32, and the high-powered hosts used a 12-3 run in the third quarter to knot the score at 46 with 4:10 left. But TCNJ flipped the momentum again, reeling off the last 11 points of the quarter – including 3-pointers by Setaro and Grace Kowalski – to go into the last 10 minutes armed with a 57-46 advantage
• Unfortunately, the see-saw had another turn. Scranton began the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to get within two before Kowalski ended a drought of nearly five minutes with a layup to make it 59-55 with 5:29 to go
• After a Royals bucket, Fricker scored on a feed from Kowalski before returning the favor for her freshman counterpart, who hit a jumper to give TCNJ a 63-57 lead with 4:27 remaining
• The Lions, however, fouled Scranton on a 3-pointer on the next possession. After Hannah Angeli knocked down all three, the Royals took the upper hand for good with baskets on four consecutive trips to extend the margin to 72-63 before Cafaro broke up the run with a 3-pointer. It proved too little, too late as Scranton scored four quick points before Setaro ended the scoring with a 3-pointer

FOR THE FOES

• Preseason All-American Kaci Kranson willed the Royals to victory with a career-high 30 points, including nine in the fourth quarter
• Kaeli Romanowski chipped in with 12 points for Scranton, which shot 45.5 percent overall but just 2-of-16 (12.5 percent) from 3-point range
• Scranton dominated the paint (48-14) and in second-chance points (22-5)

STANDOUT LIONS

• Setaro scored 19 points on just nine shots, making six of them. She was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and 4-of-5 at the line
• Leazier made five 3-pointers and matched Setaro for the team lead with five rebounds
• Cafaro netted 12 points and Kowalski provided 10 while tying Branchizio for the team lead with four assists
• TCNJ nearly pulled off the upset thanks to its 3-point shooting. The Lions knocked down 13 triples (on 28 attempts) to just two for the Royals

UP NEXT

• TCNJ returns home to open NJAC play against Rutgers-Camden on Tuesday