Mangan's Career-High 27 Propels Lady Bears Past Pomona-Pitzer

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Senior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) scored 16 of her career-high 27 points during a pivotal 18-0 second-half run as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team surged past Pomona-Pitzer for a 67-60 win on Saturday evening at Voelkel Gymnasium.

St. Joseph's (5-6) snaps a two-game skid and splits both games of their California trip, returning to New York to play five straight games in Brooklyn to start the new year.

In addition to Mangan's career-best outing, sophomore Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) also poured in a career-high 26 points to go along with 15 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. The duo combined to score 53 of the Lady Bears 67 points.

Pomona-Pitzer (0-8) was led senior by Alexis Sones who tallied 19 points and freshman Juliah Shay Kim who netted 18 points.

Mangan set the tone early with two trifectas on the Lady Bears first two possessions as both squads lit it up from deep – both teams combined for 15 three-pointers and shot 58 percent from behind the arc. But on the strength of 8-of-11 three-point shooting (73 percent), the Sagehens would build a nine-point advantage before the Lady Bears brought the deficit back to 42-41 at the break.

After both teams shot nearly 50 percent in the opening half, the offenses stalled early in the second, both teams shooting only 10 percent and made only three field goals through the midway point of the second stanza.

The Sagehens then made three baskets to score six unanswered, pulling ahead 54-47 with 6:54 left.

Mangan then stepped up with a huge run of 16 points in a span of 3:14 as the Lady Bears exploded for a 65-54 lead. She started the run with a three-pointer and then picked up a steal in the backcourt and went in for a lay-up to make the score 54-52 with 5:44 left. 

After two foul shots from Retas tied the score with 5:05 to play, Mangan hit three consecutive three-pointers in a 90-second span (at 4:32, 3:40 and 2:59) to suddenly put the Bears ahead by nine points at 63-54, as the third one rattled around the rim for several seconds before falling through the net.

A blocked shot from Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) then led to a two-on-one fast break, as Mangan worked a give-and-go with Retas to finish off the 18-0 run with a lay-up at the 2:39 mark. Kim ended the run with a lay-up with 1:48 to play for the Sagehens, but Retas answered right back with a jumper to prevent a late comeback.

Mangan finished the day shooting 10-of-18 from the floor with a career-high seven three-pointers (7-of-13), while Retas was 8-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-6 on threes.  The combined 11 treys are the most by the team since 2006.

Raccuglia finished with a career-high four rejections as the team also matched a single-game record 11 blocks set in 2009.  

St. Joseph's returns home to host Purchase College on January 3, 2013 at Brooklyn Technical High School with a scheduled 7:30 p.m. tip-off. Live video and stats will be available from SJCBears.com. 

Portions contributed by Pomona-Pitzer Sports Information