Lady Bears Suffer First HVWAC Loss To Albany Pharmacy

ALBANY, N.Y. – In a battle of the two remaining Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference unbeaten teams and rematch of last year's HVWAC Championship, the Albany College of Pharmacy handed the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team a 67-48 loss on Saturday afternoon at the Albert M. White Gymnasium.

The Lady Bears (12-10, 3-1) find their three-game winning streak snapped and suffer their fifth-straight road loss to the Panthers (13-3, 4-0)—their last road win in November 2003. The Panthers will look to clinch the regular season title against Berkeley on February 10th.

St. Joseph's was led by junior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) who tallied a season-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting and swiped a game-high four steals. Sophomore Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) added 14 points and seven rebounds coming off the bench. Senior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's Academy) contributed eight points.

Albany Pharmacy placed four Panthers in double-figures led by Alyson Johnson who netted a game-high 22 points, draining 5-of-8 from behind the arc while sister Kelsey Johnson scored 13 points and dished out five assists.

A poor first-half shooting effort doomed the Lady Bears as they managed only six field goals and shot 23 percent for the opening 20 minutes, while the hosts connected on 44 percent (12-of-27), including four triples. The Panthers raced out to a 9-2 advantage and never trailed in the contest, riding a hot-shooting Alyson Johnson who connected on four trifectas in the first half to lead all scorers at the break with 16 points and sent ACPHS into the lockers leading 36-22.

St. Joseph's improved their connect rate in the second stanza (32%) and despite 12 second-half points from McNamee, the Lady Bears could never get closer than their halftime deficit.

Albany Pharmacy finished with 45 percent shooting (21-of-47) while St. Joseph's finished with 29 percent shooting (17-of-60). The Panthers also held a 44-33 advantage on the glass but the Lady Bears won the turnover battle, 26-17, producing a 19-13 edge in points off turnovers.

The Lady Bears return to action on Tuesday, February 5^th hosting Old Westbury in their penultimate home game of the season. Tip off is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Brooklyn Technical High School. Live video and stats will be available at SJCBears.com and updates on Twitter via @SJCBears.