Lady Bears Late Surge Comes Up Short vs. St. Joseph's (L.I.)

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – Sophomore Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) recorded her third double-double of the season with a career-high 22 points, but the Lady Bears' rally from a 13-point second-half deficit fell just short, as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team dropped a 64-60 decision to sibling rivals St. Joseph's College (Long Island) on Friday night at the John A. Danzi Athletic Center.

The Lady Bears (3-4) find their three-game winning streak snapped while the Golden Eagles (5-2) have won the last four meetings in the "East vs. West" rivalry.

Retas paired her 22 points with a team-high 12 rebounds and two steals.  Sophomore Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) added 11 points coming off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out a game-high-tying five assists.

Senior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) and junior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) each chipped in seven points with five assists and senior Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) secured nine caroms.

The Golden Eagles relied heavily on their starting five and placed three in double figures led by Laura Cohen who tallied a game-high 23 points, with seven rebounds, five assists and five steals playing the full 40 minutes.  Amanda Bender contributed an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double before fouling out and Christina Cohen chipped in 15 points and four steals.

The Lady Bears took a 1-0 lead on a Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) free-throw after an administrative technical to start the game, but after the opening tip, Brooklyn struggled to connect from the field and committed six turnovers in the first four minutes allowing Patchogue to jump out to an 8-1 advantage over the first four minutes.

The Golden Eagles would extend to as many as 10 points midway through the opening period, before an 8-1 run capped by a pair of Retas layups leveled the game at 26-all with under four minutes before the break and Christina Cohen knocked down a late three-pointer to send the Eagles into the lockers up 34-30.

The Lady Bears found themselves off to another slow start to begin the half going scoreless for three minutes and Patchogue built a 47-34 advantage at the 12:19 mark.  Both squads kept trading baskets and despite Bender fouling out at the 10:45 mark, the Lady Bears still found themselves down 13, 58-45, with 6:28 remaining.

But Brooklyn finally found some momentum and held the Eagles scoreless for over five minutes, and without a field goal for the remainder of the game. The Lady bears scored eight unanswered to cut the deficit to five, 58-53, with just over a minute to play.

But Laura and Christina Cohen would help to hold off the late surge, sinking 6-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute. A three-ball from Retas with 2.6 seconds left cut the deficit to two, 62-60, but Laura Cohen sealed the win for the Eagles at the line.

Both squads remained even in the rebounding battle, 49-49, and connected on a third of their attempts, but the Lady Bears attempting 75 shots to the Eagles' 56. Patchogue also went 20-of-34 (59 percent) from the charity stripe while the Brooklyn managed just 13 attempts in total (six made).

Brooklyn looks to rebound on Sunday, December 9th against Lehman College in a game originally scheduled for Tuesday. The non-conference tilt will be played at the College of Mount Saint Vincent starting at 2:00 p.m.