Saturday pits No. 18/19 Cardinals vs. Royals inside DuFour Center

WASHINGTON - Fresh off of a 75-49 win at Susquehanna on Wednesday evening, No. 18/19 CUA returns home Saturday evening to play host to the Scranton Royals.  The Cardinals forced Susquehanna into 29.6 percent shooting and 19 turnovers, while Jill Woerner (14) and Katarina Owunna (12) led the way offensively to lead CUA to its 15th win of the season.  The win was Head Coach Matt Donohue’s 80th at CUA.

Dating back to last season, CUA has won 12 consecutive games at home, including all seven this season.  In those seven games, the Cardinals have outscored teams by 16.4 points and outrebounded them by 14.9.

Woerner enters Saturday’s game with 1,345 career points, good for fifth on CUA’s all-time scoring list.  She is now only five points away from moving into sole possession of fourth on the list.

CUA’s offense was clicking on all cylinders in the win at Susquehanna. The Cardinals’ 75 points are the third most they have scored this season, and they established season highs in made field goals (33), field goal percentage (47.8), and assists (24).

Junior Liz Briones has been making more of an impact for CUA of late, averaging 16.2 minutes in her last five games.  During that time, Briones has established season highs in minutes, points and rebounds.

After making only 4 of 18 3-pointers (22.2%) in its previous two games, CUA knocked down 6 of 13 shots (46.2%) from behind the arc in Wednesday’s win at Susquehanna.  Rachel Ferri and Woerner both sank two apiece to lead the way.

At 4-1 in the Landmark Conference, Scranton is tied with CUA for second place.  The Royals enter this weekend riding a two-game win streak, including a 63-44 victory at Drew on Wednesday.  Meredith Mesaris, the conference’s leading scorer, netted 18 points on 6 of 11 shooting in the win, while Erin Boggan added 12 points.

Mesaris is averaging 19.8 points on 48.9 percent shooting, but she was held to only eight points in CUA’s conference tournament victory last February.  Scranton won both regular season meetings between the schools last season, before CUA began its march to the title with that first round victory in the playoffs.

Check out the CUA game notes for more information on Saturday’s conference tilt.

Saturday’s game will begin at 4 p.m. from inside the DuFour Center.  Links for live video and stats can be found here.