SCRANTON, Pa. --- The Moravian College women's basketball team had one shot to take a lead and another to tie the game in the final 15 seconds but fell to No. 14 The University of Scranton, 67-64, on the road in Landmark Conference action.
The Greyhounds, 10-10 overall and 6-5 in Landmark action, were looking to knock off the nationally-ranked Royals in Scranton for the second straight year but couldn't get either of their final two three-pointers to fall.
Sophomore guard Morgan Calabrese netted a team-high 19 points for the Hounds including a trio of three-pointers but her final shot bounced away just as the buzzer sounded to end the game. Calabrese also had four rebounds and two assists in the game. Junior forward Alesha Marcks added 18 points while going 10-for-10 at the foul line and extending her streak to 21 straight made free throws, and she also had eight rebounds and five assists.
Senior forward Alexis Wright moved past Kim Hughes '04 into 10th place in Moravian's all-time scoring list as her nine points gave Wright 1,226 for her career. Wright pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds, raising her career total to 861 which is second in the record books.
Freshman forward Trista Cunningham contributed eight points and five rebounds while junior guards Emily MacDonnell and Marie Rossignoli each scored four points with MacDonnell adding three rebounds and three assists.
The Greyhounds trailed 9-5 five and a half minutes into action before Moravian ran off eight straight points to take a 13-9 lead at the 11:28 mark on a lay-up by Calabrese. The Hounds would extend the lead to six points, 22-16, on a lay-up by Cunningham, and Moravian was still up six, 24-18, after a jumper by junior guard Molly Calabrese with 7:28 before the intermission.
Scranton answered with a 13-2 run to build a 31-26 lead with 4:35 on the clock but Moravian countered and cut the deficit to one-point, 33-32, on a jumper by Marcks. Wright hit the final two points of the half at the foul line as the Greyhounds headed to the locker room trailing 39-34.
Morgan Calabrese hit a pair of lay-ups to start the second half to bring Moravian within a point, 39-38, and she would put the Hounds in front, 48-47, with a three-pointer with 11:10 to play. However, that would be the Greyhounds' final lead of the game.
The Royals had an eight-point lead, 65-57, with 2:39 remaining but would not score again until a pair of free throws with 11 seconds to play. Marcks hit a pair of free throws before Morgan Calabrese's final three-pointer of the game pulled the Hounds within three points with 1:01 on the clock. After Scranton missed a lay-up, MacDonnell pulled Moravian to down just one point on a jumper with 32 seconds on the clock.
After a timeout, the Greyhounds forced the Royals into a turnover. On the offense end of the floor after another time out, Moravian missed a three-pointer to take the lead and ended up fouling. The Royals, who shot 23-for-24 at the foul line in the contest, made both, setting up Morgan Calabrese's final shot to tie the game at the buzzer.
Moravian is scheduled to play the second contest of a three-game road trip on Saturday, February 7 when the squad heads to Susquehanna University for a Landmark Conference match-up with tip-off set for 2:00 p.m.
