By Tom Robinson, NEPAElite.com
The University of Scranton women’s basketball team continues to add to its local influence through transfers.
Former NEPA Elite 17U Clark team player Kaeli Romanowski, a Western Wayne graduate, will join the Lady Royals next season after beginning her college career with one season playing for Landmark Conference rival Elizabethtown College.
Romanowski was a second-team, all-state selection after leading Western Wayne to the second round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 3A state tournament as a senior. The speedy point guard was a three-time Lackawanna League Division 2 Player of the Year selection by NEPABasketball.com and a first-team, all-District 2 choice as a senior after leading the Lady Wildcats to three division titles and two district championship game appearances.
Earlier this month, Dunmore graduate Victoria Toomey announced that she would play at Scranton in her last year of eligibility after spending four seasons on the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I level at Rider University. Toomey earned multiple District 2 Player of the Year awards and all-state honors while playing for the Lady Bucks.
In his first season coaching the Lady Royals, former Dunmore coach Ben O’Brien added Holy Redeemer graduate Sam Rajza as a graduate student transfer who had played four seasons at King’s College.
Kaci Kranson, a former NEPA Elite teammate of Romanowski’s from Holy Cross, and Rajza were starters on the Scranton team that won its first 28 games before suffering its only loss in the second round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Kranson was named tournament Most Valuable Player when Scranton defeated Elizabethtown, 69-54, in the final for its eighth straight Landmark Conference title. She had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists in that victory.
Romanowski was the most-used player off the Elizabethtown bench in that game, finishing with five points and at 5-foot-4 was the team’s second-leading rebounder with seven. She had one of her best games in a January trip to Scranton to battle for first place in the Landmark at the time. In 26 minutes, Romanowski had 12 points, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 rebounds.
During her freshman season with the Blue Jays, Romanowski led the Blue Jays (23-5) in steals with 2.4 per game while also averaging 5.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 19.6 minutes per game while playing in all but one game. She shot 41.5 percent from the floor and was second on the team in both assists and free throw percentage (79.7).
As teammates, Romanowski and Kranson helped NEPA Elite repeat as Hoop Group Showcase League 17U champions priors to their senior seasons in high school.