Lady Bears Fend Off Berkeley; Reach Fifth Straight Title Game

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team withstood a second-half surge from Berkeley College and captured a 56-42 victory in the semifinals of the 2013 Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday evening at the CNR Wellness Center.

The Lady Bears (15-10) win their third straight and set up a rematch against top-seeded Albany College of Pharmacy for the championship—the Lady Bears and Panthers meeting for the fourth straight year.

St. Joseph's was paced by juniors Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) and Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) who scored a game-high 16 points each, Moran falling one rebound shy of a double-double. Sophomores Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Loughlin) grabbed 15 boards and Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Loughlin) secured 14 caroms, helping the Lady Bears maintain a 54-34 edge on the glass. Raccuglia also swatted away four shots, registering her seventh game with four-or-more blocks.

Berkeley was led by Milan Germany who tallied 14 points to go along with nine rebounds. Janay Thomas added 11 points and four boards.

McNamee had the hot hand early and scored the Lady Bears first 10 points on a pair of trifectas followed by a fast break layup and a jumper and assisted on a fast-break layup to Moran that put the Lady Bears up 12-2. McNamee would finish the half shooting 5-for-5 leading all scorers with 12 points and helping St. Joseph's build as much as a 14 point advantage before taking a 23-14 lead into the lockers. The Lady Bears defense held the Knights 11 percent shooting.

But the Berkeley offense found their rhythm in the second stanza and matched their offensive output of the first half in six minute of play, using a 10-2 run to shrink the Lady Bears lead to two, 31-29. A layup from Rachel Thomas followed by a pair of Germany free throws gave Berkeley their first lead since the opening seconds, 34-32, with 12:43 to play.

But Moran would reignite the offense, attacking the lane and making three layups amidst a 8-1 Lady Bears run over five minutes that put St. Joseph's on top for good. Moran would finish the half with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.

With the Lady Bears holding on a 43-40 lead with just under six minute to play, St. Joseph's used a 9-2 run to build a double-digit lead approaching the one-minute mark, putting the game out of reach.

St. Joseph's shot 46 percent (13-of-28) in the second half and finished with a 39 percent connect rate for the game, dishing out 17 assists on 22 field goals.

The Lady Bears will look to reverse a two-game skid to the Panthers in HVWAC title games and seek their first title since 2010. The championship game is slated to begin at 4 p.m. at The College of New Rochelle following the men's championship with the Bears taking on Berkeley College at 2 p.m. Links to the live video and stats will be available on SJCBears.com with updates also on Twitter via @SJCBears.