McNamee's Career-Best Leads Women's Basketball Past Old Westbury in Overtime

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – Senior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, N.Y./Mary Louis) scored a career-high 22 points leading three Lady Bears in double-figures as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team downed SUNY College at Old Westbury in overtime, 77-75, on Saturday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center.

The Lady Bears (6-3) have now won three straight entering the finals break and have defeated the Panthers (2-4) for the second straight meeting.

McNamee continued her hot shooting connecting on 10-of-21 from the field and 2-of-6 from behind-the-arc. Junior Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) recorded her third double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 15 caroms.  Junior Kristin D'Chiutiis (Brooklyn, N.Y./Scholars Academy) added 13 points, four boards and four assists.

St. Joseph's took control with an 8-0 run over four minutes in the first to build an 11 point lead, their largest of the contest, and carried a 38-32 lead into the intermission.

Old Westbury refused to let St. Joseph's pull away and a 7-0 run gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half, 55-54, but the St. Joseph's quickly countered with 10 straight points, powered by triples from McNamee and Retas. But a nine-point advantage with 3:21 to play would not be enough as Old Westbury closed out regulation outscoring the Lady Bears 11-2, a DeAndra Scott three-pointer with 40 seconds left forcing the extra period.

The squads matched each other in the overtime session, the Lady Bears' three-point advantage the largest separation. McNamee's jumper, which set her career best, with just over a minute to play proved to be the deciding basket as neither team could capitalize on attempts from the charity stripe down the stretch.

Scott would lead all scorers and four Panthers in double figures with 23 points, also grabbing 14 rebounds for the double-double.

TURNING POINT

After McNamee's jumper in the final minute of overtime put the Lady Bears up 77-75, Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) swatted away a Jasmine Robinson layup and also secured the rebound for a key defensive stop that allowed the Lady Bears to run off another 30 seconds off the game clock.

St. Joseph's managed three offensive rebounds on the ensuing possession, but couldn't add any points to the scoreboard, ultimately missing the front end of the bonus and Old Westbury gaining possession with 14 seconds left to play.

Scott drew a foul with two seconds left and went to the line in the bonus with a chance to tie, but also missed the front end and the Lady Bears secured the rebound to seal the win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Other key contributors: Taylor Raccuglia (8 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast, 3 blk), Megan Moran (7 pts, 12 reb, 4 ast), Jennifer Miller (8 pts, 11 reb)
• The contest featured eight ties and seven lead changes, but the Lady Bears held the lead for the majority of the game.
• St. Joseph's handed out 23 assists on their 32 field goals, all five starters dishing out at least three assists each.
• The Lady Bears swatted away eight shots (Raccuglia 3, Retas 3, Candelaria, Miller) above their average of 5.4 rejections per game that ranked them No. 22 in the nation at the beginning of the week.
• St. Joseph's won the battle of the boards, 53-50, with three Lady Bears (Retas, Moran, Miller) pulling down double-digit caroms.
• The Panthers held the edge in fast break points, 20-12, and points off turnovers, 24-12, capitalizing on 23 Lady Bears' miscues.

THE BEAR FACTS

• St. Joseph's closes the gap in the all-time series vs. Old Westbury, trailing 11-9. It was their first win on the road in the series in the last five meetings, the last road win coming in 2004.
• It was the second overtime game for the Lady Bears in a one week span, St. Joseph's dropping a 67-61 decision to Southern Virginia exactly a week ago. 
• Prior to this season, the Lady Bears had not played an overtime game for five full seasons, their last win in overtime coming against NHTI in February 2008.
• A career 7.1 ppg scorer prior to this season, McNamee has excelled in her senior campaign averaging a team-leading 13.7 ppg.

NEXT UP FOR THE LADY BEARS

St. Joseph's will take a short break for finals week, returning home to Brooklyn Technical High School to host sister campus, St. Joseph's (Long Island) on Saturday, December 21st in the annual "East vs. West" Tripleheader rivalry.