WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes University women's basketball team fell to the No. 2 University of Scranton Royals 80-28 Wednesday night at the Marts Center.

The loss drops the Colonels to 4-12 (1-8), while the Royals improve to 16-0 (9-0) with the win.

The Colonels held their own on the defensive end to start the game as it took the Royals nearly four minutes to make their first field goal. However, Kaci Kranson got the ball rolling for Scranton with back-to-back layups, and then they hit four three-pointers to lead by double digits (17-4) going into the second quarter.

Madison Robel (Middlesex, NJ/Middlesex) got the first points of the quarter with a layup after 10 seconds, but Scranton responded with a 15-0 run to make it a 26-point game with 6:05 remaining in the half. By the end of the first half, the Colonels trailed 44-11. 

The second half was more of the same as the Royals won the third quarter 20-13 and then the fourth quarter 16-4 to reach the final score of 80-28.

No Wilkes player reached double figures but Yamirelis Matos (Springfield, MA/Chicopee) led the team in scoring with nine points. On the Scranton side, Kranson scored 16 points and grabbed four rebounds on 6-8 shooting in just 17 minutes of action. Meghan Lamanna was the other Royal in double figures with 11 points on 3-6 shooting, including 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc in 19 minutes on the court.

One highlight of the game was Wilkes' team defense as the Royals shot just 37.3% (25-67) from the field all game, their second lowest field goal percentage of the season.

The Colonels return to the court on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 2 p.m. for a rematch with Moravian. The game begins at 2 p.m.