Albany Pharmacy Prescribes Big Loss for Lady Bears

ALBANY, NY – In a rematch of last year's Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference (HVWAC) Championship game with the regular season title on the line, the St. Joseph's women's basketball team suffered a 82-39 setback to Albany College of Pharmacy. Albany Pharmacy clinches the regular season title improving to 3-0 in conference, while the Lady Bears drop to 3-1 in the HVWAC and 9-13 overall.

After back-to-back wins over HVWAC opponents, St. Joseph's shot a season worst 21% from the floor and scored a season low 37 points.  The Lady Bears struggled all game with the size disparity as all six Panthers measured 5'9" or taller.

The Lady Bears jumped out to the early 5-2 lead, but after that the Panthers outscored them 43-8 the rest of the half. The 13 point first half was the fewest this season, but not the fewest of all time. St. Joseph's has scored less than 13 points in a half four times in the last six years, including twice last season.

The Lady Bears never had a chance to come back in the second half, and dropped their first HVWAC contest of the season.

For the third time this season the Lady Bears didn't produce a double-digit scorer. Sophomore Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) had the high with nine points and Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) and Kristin Binckes (Brooklyn, NY/St. Savior) each had eight.

The Panthers only had six girls take the court and four scored 10+. Kelsey and Ashley Johnson had 21 and 20 points respectively to lead Albany Pharmacy. Kelsey Johnson also had a game-high 14 rebounds.

St. Joseph's closes out the regular season with three straight home tilts. Next up for the Lady Bears are USCAA rivals Briarcliffe College on Wednesday, February 9th. The Lady Bears are 5-2 this season at Brooklyn Technical High School, and look to continue that success. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm.