Lady Bears Cruise Past York to Win Second Straight

BROOKLYN, NY – Four Lady Bears reached double figures led by sophomore Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) who notched her second double-double of the season to help power the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team to a 81-57 win over York College (N.Y.) on Saturday evening at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The Lady Bears (2-3) notch their second straight victory crossing the 80 point threshold in both wins. The Cardinals (0-6) scored a season-high 57 points, but were unable to snap their five-game winless streak.

Eight different Lady Bears contributed at least six points to the score sheet. Retas shared team-high honors with Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) netting 14 points each. Retas pulled down a game-high-tying 10 rebounds and had three steals.  Doran fell one rebound shy of a double-double, handed out three assists and had two thefts.

Also finishing in double figures was Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's Academy) who netted 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and 3-of-5 from behind the arc, and matched a career-high five assists.  Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) chipped in 12 points and grabbed six rebounds.

York was paced by senior Ishonda McFarland who produced a double-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and four steals, all game highs.  Junior Shadaeya Green added 14 points, four steals and two assists coming off the bench. Junior Danielle Dunn contributed 11 points and eight rebounds.

St. Joseph's never trailed in the contest and the starters got the Lady Bears off to a quick 19-8 lead in the first six minutes of play before coach Frank P. Carbone started to go to his bench, which saw significant playing time.

A Jennifer Miller (Ozone Park, NY/St. John's Prep) rebound and layup just past the 10 minute mark gave the Lady Bears their largest lead of the half, 27-12, but York would hang around and cut the deficit to seven on multiple occasions before heading into intermission trailing 41-30. 

But the second-half would be all St. Joseph's as the Lady Bears overwhelmed York with a 50 percent (17-of-34) connect rate in the half, ballooning their advantage to over 30 in less than six minutes.

St. Joseph's finished with a season-best 43 percent (31-of-72) shooting and doled out 20 assists, 10 different Lady Bears recording a helper.

The Lady Bears return to action looking to reach the .500 mark for the first time this season facing The King's College in a USCAA matchup on Monday, December 3rd at St. Francis College. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.