(Editor’s note: article had some anomalies in writing from night previous, has been updated to reflect more of the writer’s point of view for the “From the presser” column”)
King’s hung around early on against number 24 ranked Eastern but eventually lost the bout, 70-50, in front of a small crowd at Scandlon Gymnasium Wednesday night.
The Lady Monarchs entered halftime only down by six, but that was the closest they got. King’s shot a miserable 26.2 percent for the game, mostly in part to not being able to hit jump shots, some, many wide open shots at that.
Kayla Feairheller struggled mightily all night and went 5-21 from the field but coach Brian Donoghue stuck by his leading scorer.
“Sometimes the ball doesn’t go in to basket,” he said post game.
As for the King’s offense as a whole, from what I say, there was to much perimeter offense. The Lady Monarchs has to do a better job of getting the ball inside.
Getting the ball inside is something that the Eagles were able to do with ease. Senior Meghan Nowak owned the inside and finished with 22 points and 12 boards. The upperclassman got herself into some foul trouble early on but owned the second half.
Alongside her was Emily Lavin, who like Novak dealt with early foul trouble. Lavin finsied with 15 points and 13 rebounds. The Lady Monarchs had a very hard time containing the two as they both recoded double doubles mid way through the second half.
It is as simple as this: you are not going to win a single game shooting 26 percent. Not a chance no matter what division you play in.
As a team, you are also very susceptible to getting blown out when you rely so heavy on your jump shooting. It is vitally important for King’s to get easy points in the paint.
As for a standings point, King’s entered the game tied for the fourth and final spot and have now dropped out of the top-four currently. According to coach Donoghue, he feels his players have to win two out of their final three games.
Vito Malacari covers King’s sports for WRKC Digital, follow him on Twitter @VitoMalacari23 or email him at VitoMalacari@Kings.edu