Lady Bears Fall to Albany Pharmacy in HVWAC Title Game; Streak Ends at 10

ALBANY, NY – The Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences used a balanced offense to defeat the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team, 67-48, in the 2012 Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Albert M. White Gymnasium. 

St. Joseph's entered as the top seed after stunning Albany Pharmacy in the regular season meeting at Brooklyn Technical High School, but couldn't repeat the feat on the Panthers' home court. The Lady Bears and Panthers have met in the last three HVWAC title games with Albany Pharmacy taking the last two meetings.

The loss also halts the Lady Bears' win streak at 10 dating back to January 21st with a win over Berkeley and their longest streak since the 2003-04 campaign assembled an 11 game streak.

St. Joseph's (13-12) was led by senior Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) who netted 13 points, the only Lady Bear in double figures.  Junior Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) had nine points and seven rebounds.  The Lady Bears finished with 34 percent shooting (19-of-56), their lowest connect rate in 11 games and their 48 points was the fewest since the loss to Old Westbury just over a month ago.

Albany Pharmacy (13-9) had four starters share game-high honors with 14 points each – Taylor Sullivan, Alyson Johnson, Kelsey Johnson and Alex Oaks. Alyson Johnson was named Tournament Most Valuable Player also pulling down nine rebounds, as the Panthers used their large height advantage to maintain a 48-28 rebounding edge. Oaks also grabbed six rebounds, handed out four assists, blocked three shots, and had three steals.  

The Panthers scored on the opening tip and raced out to a 16-4 lead on a Kelsey Johnson three pointer eight minutes into the game.  A Doran trifecta followed by a Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) jumper capped an 11-3 Lady Bear run that prompted a pair of Albany Pharmacy timeouts as St. Joseph's pulled within four, 19-15, with nine minutes remaining.  But Lady Bears couldn't close the gap any further and the Panthers extended back to a double digit advantage, 31-20, before taking a 34-27 lead into the lockers.

Jumpers by McQuillan and Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph Academy) to open the second stanza cut the deficit to three, but Albany Pharmacy scored seven points unanswered to get the lead back to 10.  The Lady Bears struggled to get their shots to fall in the second half, connecting at only 28 percent (8-for-29), while the Panthers improved to 46 percent (11-of-24) and ballooned their lead to 20 with five minutes remaining.

St. Joseph's will conclude their 2011-2012 campaign – barring an unlikely invitation to the USCAA National Tournament – on Thursday, February 23, hosting USCAA rivals Briarcliffe College at Brooklyn Technical High School.  The Lady Bears and the dance team will also celebrate Senior Night recognizing the final home games for Kristin Binckes, Joanne Crimeni, Kelly Hartney, Caitlyn Kakavas, Joanna Marciniec and Ashley McQuillan.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with Senior Night festivities following the conclusion of the game.  Fans can also watch the live webcast of the game on www.SJCBears.com.