McNamee's Career High Powers Lady Bears Past Berkeley

NEW YORK, NY – Led by sophomore Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) who poured in a career-high 20 points, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team defeated Berkeley College, 76-68, in a Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference battle on Saturday afternoon.

With the game knotted at 68-68 with 1:11 to play, St. Joseph's (4-11, 1-0 HVWAC) scored the final eight points for the victory, snapping a three game skid.

McNamee, whose previous career high was 15, came off the bench to shoot 6-of-10 from the field including 2-of-2 from behind the arc and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe, scoring her game-high tying points in only 26 minutes of action.  

Four Lady Bears finished in double-figures with Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) and Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) netting 17 points each.  Doran also grabbed a career-high 15 boards against a taller Knights squad, for her third double-double of the season.  McQuillan finished with 8-of-12 shooting and dished out a season-high six assists.  Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic) added 11 points and grabbed six rebounds.

Berkeley (11-7, 2-1 HVWAC), who came in with an 8-2 record over their last 10 games and undefeated in conference play, also found four Knights in double figures led by Janay Collins who recorded a double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds to share game-high honors.  Taisha Sherman contributed 17 points with six assists.  Aiyesha Brown added 14 points and Olivia Byfield chipped in 11.

Both squads got off to a slow start unable to score a field goal for the first four minutes, but both teams heated up, combining to shoot over 40 percent for the half.  Berkeley pulled ahead with a 9-2 run and stayed on top for most of the half leading by as many as eight points.  A McQuillan jumper at the 3:37 mark capped an 8-1 Lady Bear run to knot the game at 26-26 and went into the lockers trailing by only one, 35-34.

The Lady Bears committed three turnovers in the first two minutes of the second stanza that allowed the Knights to extend their lead to seven, but the Lady Bears assembled a 19-5 run over 5:26, with McNamee chipping in nine points, to take their second lead of the game and go up seven, 53-46.  

But it wouldn't be clear sailing as Berkeley closed the gap at 58-58 with eight minutes to play and both teams remained within two points until the final minute.  After a pair of Doran free throws with 48 ticks left put the St. Joseph's up two, the Lady Bears defense earned a stop and a Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) found a cutting McNamee in transition who made the layup with a foul, for her 14th point in the half.  Berkeley was unable to convert on their offensive end and Mangan went 4-for-4 from the stripe to seal the win.

St. Joseph's shot 41 percent (22-of-54) for the tilt, their second highest connect rate this season.  The Lady Bears also made the most of their time at the charity stripe, setting season highs in free-throws made (30) and attempted (46).  Berkeley finished shooting 41 percent (28-of-68) from the field and used their height advantage to score 46 of their 68 points in the paint and held a 45-40 advantage on the boards.

St. Joseph's returns home to host College of New Rochelle in another HVWAC league tilt on Thursday, January 26.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at Brooklyn Technical High School as the lead game of a doubleheader with the men following with a league game against Vaughn scheduled for 9:00 p.m.  Fans can follow the live webcast of both games on www.sjcbears.com.