Lady Bears Cruise to 66-45 Victory Over Fisher

BROOKLYN, NY – Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) scored a team-high 12 points leading 12 different Lady Bears that contributed at least one point in a 66-45 wire-to-wire non-conference win over Fisher College on Thursday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

St. Joseph's stormed out of the gate from the opening tip jumping out to a 22-0 lead with McQuillan scoring all 10 of her first half points before Fisher recorded their first field goal at the 13:39 mark.  The Lady Bears built their largest lead of the game at 29 right before halftime with a trifecta from Joanna Marciniec (Glendale, NY/Baruch) with 1:29 remaining taking a 45-16 lead at the break.

After a poor shooting performance in their last two games on the road, the St. Joseph's found their touch at home shooting 50% in the opening frame (22-for-44).  In the first half, the Lady Bears also held the Falcons to 13.3% shooting (4-for-30) and forced 20 turnovers that they converted to 22 points.

Fisher's improved 32.3% shooting (10-for-31) in the second half and full court pressure cut slightly into the Lady Bear lead, but they were unable to bring the deficit below 20, the final outcome never in question.  The St. Joseph's bench saw significant playing time with all 13 Lady Bears receiving at least 11 minutes on the court and combining for 27 bench points. The Lady Bears 40.3% shooting for the game was their best output of the season.

McQuillan also dished out a game-high four assists and had three steals.  Senior center Julia Serewko (Woodside, NY/Mary Louis) amassed nine points, four steals and three assists.  Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes), Allison Kavanagh (Woodhaven, NY/Mary Louis) and Marciniec each added eight points.  Freshman Robin Darville, who was named HVWAC Rookie of the Week last week, scored six points and pulled down a team-high five rebounds in her first start of the season.

Fisher College (1-8) was led by freshman center Darneisha Ruffin (Stoughton, MA) who scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed six rebounds coming off the bench.  Senior forward Leslie Wadhams (Burlington, VT) added 11 points and six rebounds.

St. Joseph's (3-3) returns to the .500 mark for the season and remains undefeated in the all-time series against Fisher, leading 5-0, where they have an average margin of victory of 24.2 points.

St. Joseph's has a day off before travelling north on Saturday for a non-conference battle against Southern Vermont.  When the two teams met last season, the Lady Bears overcame a 16-point deficit for an 81-73 victory behind McQuillan's career-high 34 point performance.