The Misericordia University women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season at King's College, 80-70, Wednesday night.
Japriya Carroll recorded her first career double-double with 24 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. The senior guard added four assists and a steal with four three-pointers made.
Paige Wampole reached double-figures in scoring for the sixth time this season with 14 points. The forward added seven rebounds and shot 6-11 from the field.
The Cougars and Monarchs played a tightly contested first half with 12 lead changes.
In the first quarter, Misericordia answered King's opening bucket with a three-pointer from
Tessa Zamolyi to take an early 3-2 lead. However, two possessions later the Monarch's responded with a three-pointer from Kayla Dillinger to reclaim the lead.
Misericordia put together a small run at the end of the opening quarter with consecutive baskets from Carroll and Wampole in the final two minutes to go up three points. The Monarchs then scored on a fast break before the buzzer to cut the Cougars' lead to 16-15 after one stanza.
The Cougars took their biggest lead of the contest early in the second with a seven point advantage. After King's opened the quarter with a bucket, Misericordia responded with an 8-0 run that lasted just under three minutes. During the rally, the Cougars scored six of their eight points on the fast break.
Moments later, King's answered with a 10-0 run, which was capped-off by an Alexis Steeber three-pointer, to take a three point advantage. After several lead changes in the final three minutes, the Monarchs went into halftime with a 37-36 lead.
Zamolyi gave the Cougars on early second half lead, but King's quickly began to distance themselves with a 12-2 rally that lasted four minutes. Yori Mackenzie hit consecutive three-pointers during the Monarch's run as the team took a nine point lead with 5:03 remaining in the third.
King's led by as many as 12 points and ended the quarter with a 60-52 lead. The team shot 5-10 from deep for the quarter while the Cougars were 0-3 from beyond the arc.
After the Monarchs built their lead to 14 points with 7:42 remaining in the contest, the Cougars began to claw back into the game with a quick 9-2 rally. Wampole kick-started the run with an and-one layup and scored six of the Cougars points during the stretch to pull within seven.
Moments later, Carroll scored five unanswered points with a layup and a three-pointer to pull within four. However, King's responded with two straight buckets to put the game out of reach entering the final minute of play.
Misericordia fell to 16-1 overall with a 5-1 MAC Freedom mark while King's improved to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in conference play. The Cougars will host FDU-Florham, Saturday at 1:00 PM.
