Lady Bears Light Up Lehman in Second Half to Return to .500

BRONX, N.Y. – Three Lady Bears reached double figures led by sophomore Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) who picked up her fourth double-double of the season to help power the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team to a 71-51 win over Lehman College on Sunday afternoon at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

Both teams were separated by only two points at halftime, before St. Joseph's outscored Lehman 37-19 in the second stanza on 54 percent shooting.

The Lady Bears (4-4), coming off a tough defeat at the hands of their sibling rivals St. Joseph's (L.I.), level their record before the final exam break. The Lightning (1-7) drop their third straight and remain winless in non-conference play in six games.

Five different Lady Bears contributed at least six points to the stat sheet. Retas poured in a career-high 23 points on an efficient 11-of-17 shooting from the field collecting a game-high-tying 11 caroms and dishing out a game-high five assists. Sophomore Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) notched her first career double-double dropping in 11 points, pulling down 11 boards to go along with four assists making her first career start. 

Also finishing in double figures was senior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) who netted 11 points, draining 3-of-6 from behind the arc, brought down six rebounds, and dished out four assists. Junior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) scored nine points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with two assists and two thefts. Sophomore Kristin D'Chiutiis (Brooklyn, NY/Scholars Academy) chipped in six points and six rebounds off the bench for the Lady Bears.

Lehman was led by Jasmin Castro-Lopez who had a double-double scoring 12 points to go along with 10 boards. Jennifer Navarro added 12 points along with three caroms and three assists. Shalaya Nieves contributed 11 points while collecting five rebounds.

The Lightning scored the first two points of the game from the charity stripe to take an early lead but the Lady Bears would score the next eight points over the first three minutes. The Lady Bears lead grew to nine, 19-10, with 11:31 left in the half topped off by Retas layup. However, the Lightning struck back going on an 18-8 run that gave them the lead, 28-27, at the 3:52 mark for the first time since the opening seconds.

The lead went back-and-forth in the last three minutes of the half, but a Raccuglia layup with 30 seconds to play put the Lady Bears up 34-32 heading into the break.

St. Joseph's opened the second stanza scoring the first four points on a trey by Mangan and a free throw by Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) which built the Lady Bears lead to six, 38-32, a minute-and-a-half into the period. The lead remained six, 47-41, with 13:33 left in the game, but St. Joseph's would go on a 12-2 run stretching the Lady Bears lead to 16, 59-43, with 6:32 remaining sealing the win.

St. Joseph's continued to dominate the action taking their largest lead of the game, 71-49, with 43 seconds to play on a layup by Brittany Cervino (College Point, NY/St. Agnes). 

The Lady Bears shot a season-best 50 percent from the field (30-of-60) while playing suffocating defense against the Lightning holding them to 28 percent shooting (20-of-71), clamping down in the second half holding Lehman to a 22 percent clip.

St. Joseph's doled out 22 assists, with ten different Lady Bears recording a helper. The Lady Bears also dominated the glass holding a 53-33 advantage.

St. Joseph's takes a short break for final exams returning to action on Saturday, December 22nd to take on the College of Staten Island with the Lady Bears looking to move above .500 for the first time in the 2012-13 season. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m.