Lady Bears Late Rally Against Mount Saint Vincent Falls Short

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. – Sophomore Kristin D'Chiutiis (Brooklyn, NY/Scholars Academy) scored 17 second-half points to lead three Lady Bears in double-figures, but the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team dropped a 64-57 decision to the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Monday evening on the road at the Peter Jay Sharp Center.

D'Chiutiis' hot second half produced a game-high 18 points, her Lady Bear career high, connecting on 7-of-12 from the field to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) and senior Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) added 13 points each. The trio combined to shoot 52 percent (17-for-33) from the field to lead the Lady Bears 37 percent shooting (22-for-63). Junior Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and contributed six points.

Mount Saint Vincent (2-2) finished with three Dolphins in double-figures, led by Desiree Rosa who netted 16 points, draining 4-of-7 from behind the arc and dishing out five assists. Kelly Fraser and Shannon Koch chipped in 14 points and five rebounds each.

St. Joseph's (0-3) led for the majority of a sloppy first half that featured a combined 27 turnovers and 17 percent shooting. Despite holding the Dolphins to a 13 percent connect rate (5-for-38), the Lady Bears were plagued by 16 miscues in the frame and couldn't pull away by more than four points and a pair of Doran free throws with just over a minute to play sent the Lady Bears into the lockers up 19-17.

Both teams found the stroke in the second half, paced by their leading scorers. D'Chiutiis netted 17 second-half points to help the Lady Bears to 46 percent shooting (17-for-37) while Rosa drained 16 points to boost the Dolphins to 54 percent shooting (19-for-35) in the frame.

The Dolphins came out of the lockers the hotter team, opening with a 12-2 run sparked by eight points from Fraser to take a 29-21 lead and never trailed again. Mount Saint Vincent pulled away to its largest lead of the game at 13 midway through the frame, but the Lady Bears made a late surge. Retas scored all 10 of her second-half points over a five minute span to spark a 14-4 St. Joseph's run to cut the deficit to three with just under six minutes to play.

But the Dolphins held off a Lady Bears comeback responding with three-pointers every time the Lady Bears came within one possession, St. Joseph's coming within two points with 2:30 left. Rosa knocked down three straight triples and Shannon Koch added another, which put the Dolphins up 58-52 with a minute to play. Junior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) knocked down a trifecta with 30 seconds remaining to pull within three, but Rosa helped seal the win from the free throw line.

Despite losing the turnover battle in the second half by a slight margin, 15-14, Mount Saint Vincent was opportunistic outscoring the Lady Bears 18-8 in points off turnovers. The Dolphins also made the most of eight offensive rebounds to take a 16-6 edge in second chance scoring.

St. Joseph's will return home on Thursday, November 29th to host Cedar Crest College in their home opener at Brooklyn Technical High School. Sitesh Shah will call the action when the game tips off at 7:30 p.m. with live video and stats available on www.SJCBears.com.