WILKES-BARRE – Jessica King and DaniRae Renno combined for 38 points to help lead visiting Elizabethtown College to a 66-54 Landmark Conference victory over the Wilkes University women's basketball team Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center.
 
Wilkes fell to 5-8 overall and 1-5 in Landmark play following the home defeat. Elizabethtown improved to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in conference games.
 
Elizabethtown raced out to a 20-6 lead before a bucket from Julia Marino (Washington Township, NJ/Washington Township) and two free throws by Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee) cut the deficit to eight with 1:43 on the first quarter clock. Emma Stout (Bangor, PA/Bangor) continued the Colonels run when she buried a three-pointer as Wilkes trailed by just five with :53 remaining in the opening frame. The teams traded points at the charity stripe as Elizabethtown took a 23-16 advantage at the end of the first.
 
The Blue Jays continued their offensive pressure scoring three times to start the second quarter, but Wilkes answered with scores from Brenna Babcock (Sweet Valley, PA/Northwest Area), Marino and Erin Shober (Reading, PA/Wilson) to keep things close at 29-22 with 5:53 on the clock. Taylor Simpson (Dunmore, PA/Lawrenceville School) knocked down a trey from the top of the key after an Elizabethtown inside score as the Blue Jays lead remained at six with 3:03 remaining. Stout canned her second three of the day two possessions later and Wilkes trailed by just five at 33-28 with just over a minute left in the first half. Wilkes had one last chance to cut into the lead after a late steal from Marino, but the Colonels were unable to capitalize on the turnover.
 
Wilkes came to within one 33-32 with back-to-back scores to start the third quarter as Shober and Matos each found the hoop inside. Elizabethtown answered over the next four minutes using a 14-2 run to push the lead back to double digits leading 47-34 with 4:09 on the clock. Elizabethtown settled for a 51-41 advantage at the end of the third with Wilkes outscoring the visitors 7-4 over the final two minutes of play.
 
Wilkes kept things close throughout the final quarter, but the lead never came below ten as Elizabethtown used their size to score 11 of their 15 points in the frame in the paint.
 
Shober led the Colonels with a team-high 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Matos followed with 11 points.
 
Wilkes continues Landmark Conference play Wednesday when the Colonels travel to Madison, NJ for a matchup at Drew University starting at 7:00 p.m.