It was quite a busy week for the Misericordia men’s and women’s basketball teams. Each team had four games starting with a road trip to upstate New York to take on SUNY Cobleskill in a non-conference matchup.

The men’s team came away with a 77-74 win to improve its record to 6-11 on the year. The Cougars were led by four players in double figures with Derek Smith tallying 14 points, Nick Prociak scoring 11 and Joe Baldachino and Nick Hornung each having 10.

The women’s team also opened the week with a win, defeating the Tigers, 66-49, and improving its record to 10-7. The Lady Cougars were led by Gianna Delfino and Melina Santacroce with 13 points each.

After a quick break from conference play, both teams returned on Wednesday to play King’s College at home.

The women dropped this game, 63-55, in a close contest throughout, moving them to 10-8 overall and 5-5 in conference play. Despite the loss, Alyssa Bondi and Gianna Delfino each finished in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The men’s team got a much-needed conference win against the Monarchs after finishing the previous week at 0-2. The Cougars came out hot, jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, going up by 30 points at halftime before eventually winning, 82-72. The men’s team was led by Elijah Rosenthal with a game high of 22 points followed by three other Cougars who hit double figures. Nick Hornung and Derek Smith each finished with 12 points while first-year standout Kevin Lazdowsky had 10.

Up next was another in-conference home game for both the men’s and women’s teams when they battled DeSales University on Jan. 29.

The women’s team ended on the losing end of a 76-52 score with scoring leaders Alyssa Bondi and Elizabeth Fasti each having nine and first-year Skyler Bianchi finishing with eight.

The men’s team played a hard-fought game that came down to the final buzzer, resulting in the Bulldogs winning, 84-82. The Cougars had six players reach double figures as Kevin Lazdowsky finished with a 21-point 11 rebound double-double to lead the team. Nick Hornung had 14 points, Elijah Rosenthal finished with 13 and Derek Smith contributed 11. Nate Krietzer and Joe Baldachino rounded out the scoring for the Cougars with 10 points each. The men’s team fought until the final whistle only to lose on a last-second tip-in from Desales’ Timmy Edwards.

The last game of the week was against Division 3 basketball powerhouse Amherst College. Both the women’s and men’s teams of Amherst have beaten many ranked opponents and the women’s team came into the game against Misericordia ranked 11th in the country by D3hoops.com.

The women played first, losing to the Mammoths, 73-36. The Lady Cougars showed a ton of fight throughout the game and had a 20-18 lead after the first quarter. From then on, however Amherst took over and stepped up its defense. The Cougars were led by Alyssa Bondi and Gianna Delfino, scoring 11 and 8 points, respectively.

The Misericordia men’s team also put up a significant fight against Amherst, losing 75-69 to a very good tea. Nate Krietzer had 22 points and Kevin Lazdowsky had 11 points and eight rebounds in a valiant effort that came up short in the end.

With the Misericordia men’s and women’s basketball teams being the only sports in action on campus this week, there was a huge turnout at their events. The fans helped propel both teams to wins against King’s College as the women finished the week at 1-3 and the men at 2-2.