Women's Basketball Uses Defense to Withstand Rivals St. Joseph's (L.I.)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Led by a double-double from both juniors Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team defeated sibling rivals St. Joseph's College (Long Island), 54-40, on Saturday evening at Brooklyn Technical High School as part of the "East vs. West" showdown.

The Lady Bears (7-3) have now won seven of their last eight games and defeat the Golden Eagles (0-8) for the first time since December 5, 2008.  

Brooklyn was led by a career night from Raccuglia who recorded her second double-double of the year leading the Lady Bears with 15 points. The forward also racked up 19 rebounds, five blocks and six assists to fill out the stat sheet. Retas notches her fourth double-double of the season finishing with 11 points and 16 caroms. Senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's) chipped in six points and nine rebounds.

Long Island was led by Danielle Hamlin who scored a game-high 16 points, connecting on four treys, while securing nine boards.

The Lady Bears jumped out early on the Golden Eagles taking a 16-6 lead at the 11:32 mark of the first half. However, Long Island would respond by going on a 16-6 run of their own to tie the game up at 22-22 with 5:09 left in the opening half.

The Golden Eagles would build a 27-24 advantage with six seconds left before intermission but a Kelly McNamee (Glendale, N.Y./Mary Louis) layup with less than a second to play in the half cut the deficit to 27-26 and gave the Lady Bears momentum heading into the locker rooms.

A different Brooklyn team came out in the second half and took over early on in the period building an 18-point lead, 47-29, with 8:23 left to play to give themselves a comfortable cushion and cruised the rest of the way for the victory.

TURNING POINT

After a McNamee layup with less than a second to play in the opening half cut the Golden Eagles lead to 27-26 at the break, the Lady Bears came out with more intensity in the opening minutes of the second half going on a 21-2 run to start the period to build their largest lead of the game at 47-29 with 8:23 left to play.

Brooklyn would lead the rest of the way holding Long Island to 13.8 percent shooting in the second half and 18.8 percent for the entire game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• The 19 rebounds by Raccuglia fell one short of the school record set by Retas last season.
• The five rejections by Raccuglia also fell one shy of the school-record set by Julia Serewko on the same date back in 2008.
• The Lady Bears held a 64-40 advantage on the boards.
• Brooklyn dominated the points in the paint holding a 28-0 edge.
• The Lady Bears shot 34.8 percent (24-of-69) from the floor while holding the Golden Eagles to 18.8 percent (13-of-69) from the field.
• Long Island finished 5-of-30 (16.7 percent) from beyond the arc.
• All but one of the Lady Bears who played recorded a field goal.

THE BEAR FACTS

• The Lady Bears pick up their sixth win in the series with the Golden Eagles now holding a 14-6 all-time series lead.
• The win clinches the first "East vs. West" series win for Brooklyn in the six year series history after swimming knocked off Long Island earlier in the day.

NEXT UP FOR THE LADY BEARS

The Lady Bears return to action on December 31st as they take on Northwestern (Minn.) in Colorado Springs at 3 p.m. Eastern.