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Wilkes-Barre Township police seek assistance in locating thief

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A Chocolate Lover’s Valentines Day Tea held at the Frederick Stegmaier Mansion

<p>DALLAS &#8212; As the top player in Misericordia history, Willie Chandler was able to shoot as he pleased. Now that he&#8217;s the coach of his alma mater, he wants his guys to feel the same way.</p><p>&#8220;I give them the green light,&#8221; Chandler said. &#8220;The way I played, I had the green light. I give these guys the freedom to shoot the ball.&#8221;</p><p>That confidence has never shined through as much as it did Saturday.</p><p>The Cougars shot an outrageous 17 for 32 (53 percent) from behind the arc &#8212; believed to be a program single-game record &#8212; in a 79-68 win over King&#8217;s at the Anderson Center.</p><p>Everyone got in on the act. Seven of the 10 players who saw the court for Misericordia connected from long range and six of them knocked down at least two.</p><p>D.J. Marlow came off the bench to lead the way with four 3s en route to a career-high 26 points in just 20 minutes of action. Griffin Sponaugle and freshman Tyler McGarry each made three 3-pointers.</p><p>&#8220;A couple guys stepped up tonight and hit some shots,&#8221; Chandler said. &#8220;They weren&#8217;t respecting a couple of our guys &#8212; they were playing back, they went to guard (center James) Hawk &#8212; and guys made shots.</p><p>&#8220;So, hey &#8212; I&#8217;m gonna tell them to keep shooting the ball.&#8221;</p><p>And that wasn&#8217;t the only record to fall on the day. Hawk, a 6-foot-10 Tunkhannock grad, recorded 10 blocks, breaking his own mark of eight set last January.</p><p>It all helped Misericordia (13-10, 7-5) move into third place in the Freedom Conference standings with two games left to play. The top four teams make the league tournament and the Cougars are now a game ahead of Wilkes and Manhattanville.</p><p>King&#8217;s (11-12) fell to 5-7 in conference play but remains alive in the playoff race.</p><p>Understandably, Monarchs coach J.P. Andrejko was not pleased with his team&#8217;s defensive performance.</p><p>&#8220;(Misericordia) shot the ball well, but I&#8217;m more upset with defensive lapses on our part,&#8221; Andrejko said. &#8220;We talked about how we wanted to defend, and I thought we made way too many mental mistakes on the defensive end.&#8221;</p><p>The Monarchs got a career-high 21 points from Connor Hughes, who put on an impressive 3-point-shooting display of his own, going 7 for 10. Dan Rutecki added a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Chris Fazzini had 11 points and nine boards.</p><p><strong>MU women sweep</strong></p><p>It was a completely different team after halftime.</p><p>The Misericordia women had nearly as many turnovers (15) as points (19) in the first half. But the Cougars collected themselves and quickly fired back, scoring 28 third-quarter points to rally past King&#8217;s 65-62 in the first game of the doubleheader.</p><p>&#8220;Our record doesn&#8217;t always reflect it, but at this point in the season, our kids are resilient,&#8221; Cougars coach Allison Kern said. &#8220;We step out and we think we&#8217;re going to win every game.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t always finish the little stuff, but I don&#8217;t think that anybody walking out of our locker room at halftime thought we were going to lose.&#8221;</p><p>Misericordia (7-16, 3-9) earned a season sweep of the Lady Monarchs, using a big second-half rally in both games. King&#8217;s was eliminated from the Freedom Conference playoff chase.</p><p>King&#8217;s appeared to break things open in the second quarter, turning a 10-10 tie after one into a 30-13 lead. The Lady Monarchs outscored the Cougars 25-9 in the frame to take a 35-19 lead into the break.</p><p>But the Cougars came with confidence out of the locker room, dramatically slashing their turnover numbers and pulling ahead going into the fourth. Justine Seely came up with a big block in the final minute for the Cougars to preserve the lead.</p><p>&#8220;Ultimately, we were slower,&#8221; King&#8217;s coach Brian Donoghue said. &#8220;We outran them in the first half. We were really good defensively. We got stops. (In the second half), we didn&#8217;t get in transition.&#8221;</p><p>Rachel Carmody turned in a double-double, leading the Cougars with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Seely and Japriya Carroll finished with 10 points and six rebounds apiece.</p><p>For King&#8217;s (11-12, 4-8), sophomore Olivia Hoffman recorded three blocks to tie the school&#8217;s single-season record with 86. The Wyoming Valley West grad added eight points and 11 rebounds.</p><p>Jennifer Fabian (16 points), Kayla Feairheller (15) and Tara Zdancewicz (12) all finished in double figures in the loss.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>MEN</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Misericordia 79, King&#8217;s 68</strong></p><p><strong>KING&#8217;S (68)</strong> &#8212; Connor Hughes 7-11 0-2 21, John Fazzini 5-10 1-2 12, Chris Fazzini 4-13 2-2 11, Tom Heston 1-7 1-2 3, Dan Rutecki 5-15 3-4 13, Nate Oliver 0-2 2-2 2, Jake Barber 1-7 0-0 2, Derek Wilkins 2-4 0-0 4. <strong>Totals 25-69 9-14 68.</strong></p><p><strong>MISERICORDIA (79)</strong> &#8212; Alec Rodway 3-9 1-2 9, Jason Kenny 4-9 1-2 11, Griffin Sponaugle 3-5 0-0 9, James Hawk 2-4 2-5 6, Erik Kerns 2-3 0-0 6, D.J. Marlow 11-17 0-1 26, Jamie Egan 0-2 0-0 0, Stone McCreary 1-1 0-0 3, Earl Chang 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler McGarry 3-4 0-0 9. <strong>Totals 29-56 4-10 79.</strong></p><p><strong>Halftime</strong> &#8212; Misericordia, 37-33</p><p><strong>3-point goals</strong> &#8212; KC 9-25 (Hughes 7-10, C. Fazzini 1-4, J. Fazzini 1-5, Oliver 0-1, Barber 0-2, Rutecki 0-3); MU 17-32 (Marlow 4-7, McGarry 3-4, Sponaugle 3-5, Kerns 2-2, Kenny 2-4, Rodway 2-6, McCreary 1-1, Chang 0-1, Egan 0-2)</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>WOMEN</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Misericordia 65, King&#8217;s 62</strong></p><p><strong>KING&#8217;S (62)</strong> &#8212; Kasey Seitz 0-4 1-2 1, Alexis Steeber 1-4 0-0 2, Olivia Hoffman 4-9 0-0 8, Cayle Spencer 1-7 0-0 2, Tara Zdancewicz 5-13 1-2 12, Erin Schmidt 1-2 1-1 3, Sara Krupinski 1-5 1-2 3, Jennifer Fabian 6-15 3-4 16, Kayla Feairheller 6-12 0-0 15, Rachael DeTore 0-2 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 25-73 7-11 62.</strong></p><p><strong>MISERICORDIA (65)</strong> &#8212; Japriya Carroll 3-9 2-2 10, Leanne Forsyth 3-8 0-0 6, Shannon Croasdale 1-5 3-4 3, Rachel Carmody 7-11 0-0 16, Nikki Baro 2-3 2-2 6, Lena Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Liz Waleski 2-7 1-1 5, Jaclyn Hajec 3-4 0-0 7, Justine Seely 4-9 2-3 10, Ashley Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Alexa Plitt 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren McEwen 0-0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 25-57 10-12 65.</strong></p><p><strong>King&#8217;s`10`25`11`16`&#8212;`62</strong></p><p><strong>Misericordia`10`9`28`18`&#8212;`65</strong></p><p><strong>3-point goals</strong> &#8212; KC 5-17 (Feairheller 3-6, Fabian 1-1, Zdancewicz 1-4, Seitz 0-3, Spencer 0-3); MU 5-14 (Carmody 2-3, Carroll 2-5, Hajec 1-1, Plitt 0-1, Waleski 0-4)</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">King&#8217;s Dan Rutecki, right, looks to post up after catching a pass as Misericordia&#8217;s James Hawk defends in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>King&#8217;s Dan Rutecki, right, looks to post up after catching a pass as Misericordia&#8217;s James Hawk defends in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Misericordia&#8217;s Alec Rodway, left, looks to get around King&#8217;s John Fazzini in Saturday&#8217;s game at Misericordia. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_4.jpg</photo1><caption1>Misericordia&#8217;s Alec Rodway, left, looks to get around King&#8217;s John Fazzini in Saturday&#8217;s game at Misericordia. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">King&#8217;s Tom Heston, right, looks to get around the Misericordia defense in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_5.jpg</photo2><caption2>King&#8217;s Tom Heston, right, looks to get around the Misericordia defense in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">King&#8217;s Dan Rutecki right, drives past Misericordia&#8217;s Jason Kenny in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_2.jpg</photo3><caption3>King&#8217;s Dan Rutecki right, drives past Misericordia&#8217;s Jason Kenny in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Misericordia&#8217;s James Hawk, right, shoots over King&#8217;s John Fazzini in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_MIseri-Kings-MensBB_1.jpg</photo4><caption4>Misericordia&#8217;s James Hawk, right, shoots over King&#8217;s John Fazzini in men&#8217;s college basketball action Saturday afternoon in Dallas Township. </caption4><photoCredit4>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Record-setting day for Misericordia basketball in sweep of King’s