ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — In a battle to remain unbeaten in conference play, the Elizabethtown College women's basketball team gave nationally-ranked No. 7 Scranton all it could handle, but the Royals eventually prevailed 58-46 Saturday afternoon. Taylor Alwine and Emily Martin were both in double figures for the Blue Jays, who suffered their first loss of the season after starting 8-0.

Elizabethtown (8-1, 2-1 Landmark) has been used to playing the role of underdog, having gone against teams like Messiah and Lebanon Valley for years in the MAC; teams who are usually ranked nationally on a yearly basis.

In the opening four minutes, Jays' leading scorer Rachel Forjan had a hand in each of E-town's first three baskets that saw the hosts jump out to a 7-2 lead, forcing Scranton (11-1, 3-0 Landmark) into an early timeout. Forjan drilled a trey for the first points of the game, assisted on Alwine's jumper, and then finished the run off with a fast-break layup after Martin stole the ball.

The Royals came out of the timeout refocused, scoring the next seven points of the game to jump into the lead for the first time after Lia DiSciascio canned her three-point jumper. She finished with four threes and was one of two Scranton players in double digits with 12.

Meredith Mesaris presented a tough task for the Blue Jays' frontcourt, as the Royals' forward was effective from both inside and outside. Mesaris led the way with 12 first-half points on 5-of-11 shooting. She finished with a game-high 20.

Nikki Thompson converted a layup with 8:27 left in the first half of a pass from Erika Ferro to keep Scranton within two points at 15-13. The Royals would then use a 13-4 run to close out the half and head into the break up 28-17. E-town shot just 8-for-30 from the floor (26.7%) in the opening 20 minutes and had no foul shot attempts.

Sarah Payonk dumped a pass down low to Mesaris to open the scoring in the second half to give Scranton its largest lead of the game at 13 points, 30-17. Elizabethtown didn't lay down, however. The Jays showed the Royals some different looks defensively, which helped open up the game and allowed EC to get out on the break.

After Mesaris' bucket, Forjan, Alwine, and Martin sparked E-town to an 8-0 run the climb right back into the game at 30-25 in just a two minute span. DiSciascio knocked home another three to break up Scranton's scoreless drought, but Krissy Pennell answered with a trey of her own.

No matter how close E-town got, the Royals were able to fend off the Jays and keep the lead around three possessions the remainder of the game.

Pennell found Alwine for another jumper with 5:44 left to go and the senior converted on the shot, bringing Elizabethtown within seven, but it would be as close as they would get. Scranton pushed the advantage back into double digits and kept it there as EC went scoreless the final 2:10.

Alyssa Aichele and Alwine each had a team-high three steals. Aichele had a team-high seven rebounds to go along with three assists. Alwine finished with 13 points and Martin had 11. Forjan ended with nine points and a team-best four assists. In her E-town debut, Morgan Thomas provided six points off the bench in 14 minutes.

The women's basketball team travels to face Catholic on Tuesday, January 6 at 7 p.m.