WILKES-BARRE – Visiting Misericordia University raced out to a 15-4 lead after one quarter and held off a late Wilkes University rally to hold onto a 65-52 MAC Freedom victory Wednesday night in the Marts Center.
 
Wilkes slips to 2-11 overall and remains winless at 0-3 in league games following the loss. Misericordia improves to 5-9 overall and 1-2 in MAC Freedom games.
 
The Cougars raced out to the eleven point lead after the first quarter scoring the game's first eleven points before Wilkes found the bottom of the net on an Emily Sofranko (Jim Thorpe, PA/Marian Catholic) layup with 6:37 on the clock. The Misericordia lead grew to 25-11 midway through the second stanza before another Sofranko layup cut the deficit to twelve with Wilkes trailing 25-13 with 2:41 left in the half. A Misericordia three-pointer remained the final made field goal of the half as the Cougars took a 28-13 advantage to the break.
 
After Misericordia built the lead up to sixteen at 43-27 late in the third quarter, buckets from Catey McFadden (Doylestown, PA/Archbishop Wood), Ashley Caster (York, PA/Spring Grove) and a three-pointer from Jamie Campbell (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson) cut the lead to nine 43-34 with :36 left in the frame.
 
A Nicole Farrell (Blairstown, NJ/North Warren) layup brought Wilkes to its closest of the second half trailing 44-36 with 9:30 left in the game, but a quick 6-0 run ended the hopes of the compete Lady Colonel comeback giving Misericordia the road conference victory.
 
Campbell led Wilkes in scoring finishing with nine points including a season-high three treys. Sofranko, Cara Basile (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) and Caster each posted eight points in the defeat.
 
Japriya Carroll led all Cougar scorers firing in a game-high 16 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Justine Seely added 11 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Wilkes continues its home conference stretch Saturday hosting Delaware Valley University at 1:00 p.m. at the Marts Center.