Lady Bears Cruise to Victory Over SMCC

BROOKLYN, NY – Despite trailing for the first 15 minutes of the game, the #18 St. Joseph's College women's basketball team stormed back to take a 12 point lead at halftime and cruised to a 75-45 victory in a USCAA game against #21 Southern Maine CC.  Sophomore Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) led all scorers with 22 points and fell one steal shy of her first career double-double.

McQuillan's nine thefts sets a new individual Lady Bear record and is the most since she swiped eight against City Tech (11/22/08) last season.  The sophomore guard's 22 points, on 9-for-19 shooting, is her second game this season with 20+ points and her 11th game in double figures.  With today's game, McQuillan eclipses the 500 point scoring plateau and now sits at 503 career points.

In only 20 minutes of work, Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) scored a season-high 16 points, 14 coming in the second half, extending her streak of double-digit games in the new year to five.  The freshman guard also shared game-high honors for assists with McQuillan, both dishing out four.

Junior Allison Kavanagh (Woodhaven, NY/Mary Louis) recorded her second double-double of the season, chipping in 12 points and pulling down a team-high tying 10 rebounds, sharing the mark with freshman Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy), who set a new season-high finishing for the first time with double digit boards.

Southern Maine CC (7-6) was led by freshman Alisa Sweet who turned in a 15 point, game-high 13 rebound performance.  Rachel Del Camp finished one point short of a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring nine points.  Senior Amanda Chandler added 11 points with five rebounds.

St. Joe's got out to a slow start allowing SMCC to jump out to an early 10-2 lead.  The Lady Bears eventually started to find their touch on offense and tied the game at 16-16 nearing the midway point in the half.  The Seawolves pulled away slightly taking a 25-20 advantage, but St. Joseph's held SMCC scoreless over the final eight minutes to take a 37-25 lead into the lockers.  

Behind their pressure defense, which combined for 18 steals and forced 36 turnovers, the Lady Bears opened their advantage to 30 points by the seven minute mark of the second stanza and never looked back.  St. Joseph's continually beat the Seawolves down court with crisp outlet passes to score 10 fast break points.  For the frame, St. Joseph's shot 46 percent (17-for-37) while holding SMCC to only 20 percent (8-for-40).

Despite trailing 62-58 in rebounding, St. Joseph's set a new season high beating the previous mark by two against La Sierra.  The Lady Bears 75 points and 32 field goals made both ranked second this season behind the season opener against Yeshiva.

St. Joseph's (7-9) improves to 1-0 in USCAA contests this season.  The Lady Bears close out the season with three games against USCAA opponents, including two currently ranked in the top 15, hoping to receive a bid to the USCAA National Tournament, scheduled for March 3-6, for the first time since 2006.

The Lady Bears return to action on Wednesday, January 20, travelling to New Haven, Connecticut to face Albertus Magnus College in a non-conference tilt starting at 7 p.m.