Old Westbury Roars Past Shorthanded Lady Bears

(BROOKLYN, NY)  Playing with only six girls, the St. Joseph's Women's Basketball Team lost to the Old Westbury Panthers 87-58 in front of a home crowd at Brooklyn Technical High School on Saturday night.  The Lady Bears are currently on a three-game losing streak and drop to 6-7 and Old Westbury improves to 7-3.

St. Joseph's was deeply impacted by injuries after the Dallas trip with Kristin Binckes (Brooklyn, NY / St. Saviour) and Allison Kavanagh (Queens, NY / Mary Louis) sustaining injuries during the Howard Payne game, however both saw action.  Julia Serewko (Queens, NY / Mary Louis) and Elizabeth Shea (Brooklyn, NY / Bishop Kearney) both were unavailable to Coach Carbone sustaining injuries off the court.

The battered Lady Bears team fell behind quickly with Old Westbury jumping out to a 15-0 lead taking advantage of the 8 turnovers St. Joseph's committed during opening six minute stretch.  The Lady Bears prevented Old Westbury from extending their lead further and clawed back to trail by single-digits 40-31 at halftime. 

Old Westbury pulled away in the second half, dominating the boards 43-26 and capitalizing on the 17.9% (7-for-39) Lady Bear second-half shooting  The Panthers led by as many as 34 with six minutes remaining before closing out the game 87-58.  Overall the game was sloppy and physical with both teams combining for 54 turnovers and 29 fouls.

Senior Melissa Velez (Queens, NY / Mary Louis) paced the Lady Bears with a career-high 20 points and added a trio of rebounds and steals.  Allison Kavanagh chipped in 14 points in a reserve role, 10 coming from the charity stripe, and grabbed seven boards and had four assists.  Freshmen Caitlyn Kakavas(Queens, NY / St. Agnes) and Kristin Binckes both posted season highs with Kakavas netting 12 points and Binckes grabbing 13 rebounds.  Five Panthers finished in double-figures, led by Samantha Johnson (16 points, 8 rebounds) and double-double performances from Pamela Robinson (12 points, 17 rebounds) and Shameeka Bryan (11 points, 16 rebounds).

St. Joseph's is in the middle of one of the toughest stretches of the season playing 3 games in 5 days.  They have a day off before travelling to LaPlume, PA to face Keystone College (3-4).