In any sport, the most dangerous team is the one riding a hot streak. The King’s women’s basketball team already showed that once this week, spoiling nationally ranked Misericordia’s perfect record.
On Saturday, King’s will host its second straight top-25 opponent when MAC Freedom leader DeSales comes to Wilkes-Barre for a 1 p.m. tip-off. The men’s game between the schools will follow at 3 p.m.
The Monarchs, led by third-year head coach Caitlin Hadzimichalis, opened 1-2 in league play with losses to that same DeSales team and Manhattanville. Since then, they have responded with four straight conference wins including Wednesday’s 80-70 upset of undefeated Misericordia.
King’s has played a tough non-conference schedule as well, facing two more teams that are currently ranked including No. 8 Scranton and No. 14 Illinois Wesleyan. The Monarchs also played MAC Commonwealth contender Lycoming.
“We have had a rough schedule up to this point, and we like to do that by design so we know what we need to work on,” Hadzimichalis said. “We have pinpointed what we needed to work on. Early on, we knew what we needed to do, but we needed to figure how to get it done on game day.
“After our loss to Manhattanville, we started to figure it out.”
Since falling to the Valiants, the Monarchs are a perfect 4-0 and have looked very good on the court, improving to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in the MAC Freedom schedule.
“We have been really focused on getting defensive stops and playing to our strengths,” junior guard Mackenzie Yori said. “Our strengths are in our transition offense, and our defense helps that. We have been making sure we can execute on that part so we can get out in transition.”
So far the success has shown with wins against FDU-Florham, crosstown rival Wilkes, Delaware Valley and then Misericordia.
“Having a win against Misericordia is exciting for the team because they are a local rival,” senior Alexis Steeber said. “It is even better because they were 16-0 and we gave them their first loss.”
On top of Misericordia losing, FDU-Florham also upset Manhattanville, pushing the Monarchs into third place in the MAC Freedom at the halfway point, with the top four teams reaching the conference tournament at the end of February.
“DeSales is very good, but they are attainable, and we can get them,” Hadzimichalis said. “With the upsets around the conference, though, it shows you have to be on your best no matter who you play.”
The Monarchs are going to need this success to continue against the Bulldogs, a perennial NCAA tournament contender. DeSales is a perfect 6-0 in the conference and 15-2 overall so far. On top of that, the Bulldogs handled King’s the first time they played, winning 84-43 back in December. The Bulldogs’ smallest margin of victory in conference play was a 21-point victory over FDU-Florham.
“Going into this game we are expecting a lot of triple-teams and a lot of ball pressure, especially with (Yori) taking the point guard,” King’s leading scorer Rebecca Prociak said. “We need to make sure we don’t turn the ball over and execute what we need to do.”
The Monarchs do have momentum on their side, and after pulling off the upset against Misericordia, they are poised to do it again with DeSales coming into their gym.
“It’s critical for us to make sure we don’t think too much about Misericordia and we focus on the next one coming up,” Yori said. “We need to focus on DeSales and pay attention to how we can get better instead of what we did well. There are still things we can improve on and we need to focus on that.”
The Monarchs will need to ride the momentum gained from their winning streak but also make sure they find a good balance so their emotions don’t get the best of them.
“We need to make sure we keep that energy going forward, because that’s going to be the key,” Hadzimichalis said. “It is important but channeling the emotions and energy is going to be the difference. We were hyped up going into the game against a ranked opponent like Misericordia, but they were able to channel it into focus and they didn’t have the ups and downs.”
Elsewhere in the area on Saturday, Misericordia’s teams host FDU-Florham before the Cougars welcome the Bulldogs themselves on Monday for a make-up date. Wilkes’ squads will be traveling to Eastern.
In the PSUAC, the first-place Penn State Wilkes-Barre men host Penn State New Kensington at 2 p.m.
