Lady Bears Drop Heartbreaker to Apprentice
HAMPTON, VA – The St. Joseph's College women's basketball team rallied from 10 points down on multiple occasions, but with 4.9 seconds remaining, the Apprentice School Lady Builders broke a deadlock, hitting one-of two free throws as the Lady Bears fell 75-74 on Sunday afternoon.
St. Joseph's (13-12, 3-0 HVWAC) concludes their regular season snapping a five-game winning streak and finish above .500 for the first time since their 2005-06 campaign where they qualified for the USCAA National Tournament. The loss to the eighth-ranked team in the USCAA also jeopardizes the Lady Bears hopes for qualifying for this year's National Tournament.
Sophomore guard Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) turned in another outstanding performance, draining six three pointers, scoring a game-high 27 points. McQuillan shot 9-for-20 (45%) from the field and 6-for-12 (50%) from behind the arc. Junior forward Allison Kavanagh (Woodhaven, NY/Mary Louis) had another near double-double, grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds and adding eight points. Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes) and Tara Gleason (Woodside, NY/Stella Maris) each added seven points.
LaToyra Grimes amassed 19 points with a game-high 13 rebounds and Shameka Warren tallied 15 points with 10 boards to lead Apprentice with double-double performances. Jasmine Gerald scored 14 and Jasmine Pringle added 11 for the Lady Builders who shot 49 percent for the contest.
St. Joseph's was able to weather an early storm from Apprentice who shot 75 percent for the opening 10 minutes building a 10 point lead. A Tara Gleason (Woodside, NY/Stella Maris) triple capped a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to two at the 7:39 mark, but Apprentice extended their advantage back to 10 with 2:44 remaining. A Kavanagh jumper and McQuillan three-pointer sent the Lady Bears into the lockers trailing 45-40.
Apprentice built another 10 point lead five minutes into the second stanza behind three-pointers from Pringle and Candace Kelley, the only two of the half by the Lady Builders. St. Joseph's then went on a 12-1 run capped by Caitlyn Kakavas (Bayside, NY/St. Agnes) trifecta that gave the Lady Bears their first lead of the game, 58-57 with 11 minutes remaining.
The squads exchanged the lead five times until Apprentice took a six point lead with two minutes left. McQuillan's sixth triple brought the Lady Bears within one with 29 seconds remaining. Apprentice was fouled and hit one of two on the ensuing possession. With 11 seconds left and the Lady Bears trailing by two, coach Frank P. Carbone called his last timeout setting up the final possession. Inbounding from midcourt and Apprentice playing tight man-to-man defense, Kavanagh lobbed the inbounds pass to a cutting Joanna Marciniec (Glendale, NY/Baruch) who made a contested layup to equalize the game 74-74.
With nine ticks remaining on the clock, Apprentice brought the ball up to midcourt where Pringle was fouled and hit the first of two, putting the Lady Builders ahead for the final time. Kavanagh was unable to secure the rebound cleanly and then passed to Marciniec near halfcourt, but could not get a final desperation shot off.
Apprentice went without a field goal for the final 3:23, but shot 5-for-8 from the free throw line to pull out the victory. The Lady Builders used their size advantage to generate twice as many attempts from the charity stripe for the game, where they connected at a rate of 69 percent (25-for-36). Apprentice also held a 43-32 advantage on the glass, grabbing 30 defensive rebounds and limiting the Lady Bears to five second chance points. St. Joseph's did well to protect the ball and generated double the amount of steals (14-7) to win the turnover battle, 25-15.
Apprentice has captured the last six meetings and leads the all-time series 8-2. St. Joseph's begins postseason action on Saturday, February 20 facing New Rochelle in the semifinals of the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference Tournament at they attempt to win their first tournament title since 2006. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the College of New Rochelle with the second semifinal between #2 Albany Pharmacy and #3 Yeshiva following at 8 p.m.