Women's Basketball Thwarts Valley Forge Christian With Strong Defensive Effort

Phoenixville, Pa. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team had four players score in double figures and held Valley Forge Christian College to 20.0 percent shooting from the field en route to a 61-44 triumph over the Patriots on Thursday night.

St. Joseph's (9-7) snaps a two-game losing streak with the victory while Valley Forge (1-13) drops their ninth game in a row.

Junior Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) paced the Lady Bears on the offensive end, scoring a team-high 16 points while adding three steaks and three blocks. Senior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, N.Y./Mary Louis) poured in 14 points on an efficient 6-of-11 (54.5 percent) shooting night.

Senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's) continued her strong play, scoring in double figures for the fourth consecutive game with 12 points, adding eight rebounds and five assists. Junior Kristin D'Chiutiis (Brooklyn, N.Y./Scholars Academy) netted 10 points going 6-of-8 (75 percent) from the charity stripe while securing seven rebounds.

Leading the Patriots in a losing cause was Mikala Brinson who had a game-high 19 points on 5-of-23 (22 percent) shooting from the floor.

The Lady Bears defense, ranked No. 3 in Division III in opponents field goal percentage coming into the game, were up to their usual tricks as the Patriots had multiple scoring droughts throughout the game.

St. Joseph's trailed 5-4 at the 16:33 mark of the first half, but the Lady Bears would go on a 10-0 run to open up a 14-5 lead with 12:15 left in the first half and did not trail again.

A McNamee trifecta at the 8:05 mark of the first half gave St. Joseph's their largest lead of the half at 21-8 and they headed into the locker rooms up 29-17 after holding Valley Forge to 15.6 percent (5-of-32) shooting.

The Lady Bears continued their strong play in the second half, increasing their lead to a game-high 22 points, 61-39, with 3:03 remaining on a jumper by junior Jennifer Miller (Ozone Park, N.Y./St. John's Prep).

The second half saw the Patriots increase their shooting to 25.0 percent (7-of-28) in the second half but St. Joseph's shot 35.7 percent (10-of-28) and went 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) from the charity stripe in the second stanza to seal the win.

TURNING POINT

The Lady Bears used a 10-0 run over four minutes to take a 5-4 deficit and turn it into a 14-5 lead with 12:15 left in the first half and would hold a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Other Contributor: Samantha Retas (4 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast)
• St. Joseph's ended up shooting 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the floor for the game and shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the line on the day.
• Though they struggled from the field, Valley Forge shot better from beyond the arc going 6-of-18 (33.3 percent)
• Lady Bears held 46-44 edge on the glass.
• St. Joseph's has back-to-back games with double-digit blocks, finishing with 10 tonight.
• Lady Bears dominated the paint holding a 24-2 advantage in points in the paint.
• Patriots received production from their bench, holding a 20-5 edge in bench points.

THE LADY BEAR FACTS

• The Lady Bears now hold a 2-0 lead in the all-time series after the schools' first meeting since 1999.
• St. Joseph's improves to 2-3 in the month of January.

NEXT UP FOR THE LADY BEARS

The Lady Bears return to action on Saturday, January 25th for a pivotal HVIAC road matchup against Berkeley College at 5:30 p.m.