WASHINGTON, D.C. - No. 17 Catholic gave No. 3 Scranton all it could handle on Saturday afternoon, tying the contest at 49 with 2:27 to play before the Royals pulled away down the stretch for a 62-53 victory. 

Scranton's 62 points were its least in a contest since December 17, a 59-37 victory over DeSales as Catholic held the Royals to just 33.3 percent from the field. The Cardinals finished with the higher shooting percentage, knocking down 34.5 percent of its shots, but the Royals made three more triples and eight more free throws than the Cardinals. 

The contest was tight throughout as Matt Donohue's squad used an 8-0 run in the opening quarter to take a 10-5 lead with 1:15 left after an Amelia Kennedy layup. A Meghan Lamanna three-point play with 55 ticks left would make it a one-possession game as the Cardinals exited the first 10 minutes with a 10-8 advantage. 

The two-point lead held through the break as both teams scored 12 points in the second 10 minutes of the contest. Keegan Douglas hit a floater to put the Cardinals ahead 16-12 with 6:37 left in the half, but Maddie Hartnett immediately answered with a triple. Douglas got into the paint again, this time hitting a fallaway jumper with 5:51 remaining in the half to make it an 18-15 game. The Royals would eventually take the lead, 20-18, as Jenna Sloan stole the ball and Katie Gorski scored on the fast break with 1:37 left. Kennedy answered to tie it for Catholic before a second-chance bucket from Carly Mulvaney sent the Cardinals to the locker room leading 22-20. 

After a beautiful move on the block from Anna Scoblick, Catholic led 26-23 with 7:49 on the third quarter clock, but the third-ranked team in the country had an answer, going on a 7-0 run as All-American Kaci Kranson finally hit her first bucket of the game, a triple to push the Royals ahead 30-26. Catholic fought its way back on top a few minutes later as a Kennedy layup gave the Cardinals a 34-33 lead. Super Sub Elizabeth Bennett hit two threes within 50 seconds to help Scranton take a five-point lead into the final minute of the quarter, but a Douglas jumper with 55 seconds and a pair of Kennedy free throws with eight seconds left pulled Catholic right back within one. 

Leading 39-38 entering the final quarter of regulation, Scranton got a pair of free throws from Bennett to take a three-point lead 27 seconds into the quarter. Douglas came down the floor and drained a triple 13 seconds later to tie the contest at 41. Scoblick put Catholic in the lead with a trip to the free throw line, making one-of-two, but Kranson sparked a 6-0 run for the Royals as they led 47-42 with 5:07 to play. 

Coming out of a timeout, Mulvaney got a good look inside, but it didn't go. However, she rebounded her own miss and put it back in to pull the Cardinals within a bucket. After a great defensive possession by Alexa Kenah and Douglas that saw Douglas get a piece of a Hartnett shot, Douglas drained another triple, tying the contest at 47 with 3:50 left. 

After a Bennett miss, Kennedy looked away just momentarily and Sloan snuck in to steal it away and lay it in, putting Scranton ahead by two with 3:15 remaining. With 2:27 to play, Douglas drew a foul, knocking down both free throws and tying the game at 49. 

Bennett was successful from three again, taking the air out of the building as she gave Scranton a 52-49 lead. Kennedy drove the bucket and made a circus shot on the other end, but it was ruled to have touched the top of the backboard before falling through the net, giving the ball back to Catholic. Hartnett scored off an assist from Kaeli Romanowski with 1:39 left. Douglas pulled Catholic back within three after knocking down two more free throws, but the Royals would score six straight before Scoblick got the bucket with 10 seconds remaining. Hartnett would put the finishing touches on the Scranton victory from the free throw line. 

QUICK HITTERS
 

• The game was ultimately decided at the free throw line as Scranton knocked down 19-24 free throws (79.2 %) while the Cardinals converted on just 11-20 (55.0 %). 
• Douglas played one of her best games of the season against the Royals, scoring 20 points on 7-13 shooting, and grabbing five rebounds. It was her second 20-plus-point game of the season and her first since the season-opener. 
• Catholic's defensive effort was tremendous, becoming just the fourth team to hold Scranton below 40 percent shooting in a contest this season. Prior to tonight's shooting effort (33.3 percent), Scranton's worst shooting half of the season was 38.2 percent in a win over Cortland in November. 
• The Cardinals limited Scranton's ability to convert second-chance opportunities as the Cardinals are just the second team this season to hold the Royals to less than 10 offensive rebounds in a contest. Part of that success was due to Catholic getting graduate forward Kyra Quigley into foul trouble. She played just nine minutes in the victory. 
• The conference's leading scorer, Kranson, was held to just seven points on 2-10 shooting. It is just the second game this season in which she has failed to reach 10 points, and the first in which she played at least 15 minutes. 

Catholic hits the road on Wednesday, heading to Huntingdon, Pa. to take on the Juniata Eagles.