Staten Island Slips Away From Lady Bears

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College women's basketball team fell 51-42 to the College of Staten Island Dolphins on Wednesday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.  Sophomore Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) paced the Lady Bears leading all scorers with 20 points.  Senior Mallory Ameneiros (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) led a balanced Staten Island attack with 12 points.

St. Joseph's struggled in the early minutes committing nine turnovers, allowing Staten Island to build a slim four point lead before the Lady Bears made their first field goal at the 16:16 mark.  St. Joseph's came back to take a slim three point lead, 13-10, at the 13:07 mark on a McQuillan jumper, but Staten Island went on a 7-2 run to take the lead back for good.  The Dolphins attempted to pull away building a seven point with under seven minutes left in the half, but the Lady Bears brought the deficit down to a single point on multiple occasions before trailing 33-30 at the half.

In the second stanza, poor shooting plagued both teams, as each team made only four field goals apiece in the half.  After an early McQuillan three pointer brought St. Joseph's within two, 35-33, the Lady Bears went scoreless for over 12 minutes.  Staten Island built an 11 point lead before another McQuillan three-pointer ended the scoring drought with 6:25 remaining and the Lady Bears trailing 44-36.

With Staten Island also struggling from the field and not making a field goal in the final 5:33, St. Joseph's was on the cusp of staging a late comeback, was unable to capitalize on several open short jump shots and layups down the stretch.  Trailing by five with 1:30 left, St. Joseph's sent the Dolphins to the charity stripe where they pulled away.

St. Joseph's outshot Staten Island 29% to 26% from the field, however Staten Island shot 19-for-28 from the free throw line compared with St. Joseph's who only had six attempts for the entire game.  The Dolphins also held a 51-38 rebounding advantage.  Both teams remained even in the turnover battle, committing 32 miscues each.

McQuillan shot 7-for-17 from the field and connected on three three-pointers, matching her season best en route to her second straight game of 20 or more.  Freshman Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) added seven points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds while swiping four steals.

Seven different players scored for Staten Island, all playing at least 22 minutes and contributing five points each.  Senior Kristen Panariello (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph by the Sea) scored nine points, eclipsing the 1,000 scoring mark in the second half.  Katelyn Hepworth (Staten Island, NY/Notre Dame) grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds.

St. Joseph's (8-11) remains winless against Staten Island (9-9) in 13 meetings.  The Lady Bears return to action on the road, travelling to Pennsylvania on Saturday to face Lancaster Bible College in an AD3I matchup slated to start at 4 p.m.