Women's Basketball Cruises to Win Over HVIAC Rivals Albany Pharmacy

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Nearly all five starters reached double digit scoring as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team captured a wire-to-wire, 67-48 victory over Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday evening at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The Lady Bears (12-8, 4-1 HVIAC) won their third game in a row and second straight meeting against the Panthers (15-4, 4-2 HVIAC), clinching a berth in the season-ending HVIAC Tournament with the victory.

Senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's) led the balanced St. Joseph's offense with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists and fellow senior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, N.Y./Mary Louis) added 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Juniors Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and Kristin D'Chiutiis (Brooklyn, N.Y./Scholars Academy) chipped in 10 points each. Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) fell one point shy of having five reach double figures, also contributing seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

The Panthers were paced by Alexa Schooley's game-high 21-point, 12-rebound double-double and Kelsey Johnson chipped in 13 points.

St. Joseph's jumped out to an early 9-2 lead after seven straight points from McNamee, but had their lead cut to two before scoring 10 unanswered sparked by back-to-back Retas trifectas to build a double-digit advantage. The Lady Bears scored the final seven points of the half and carried a 30-18 lead into the lockers.

The second stanza remained firmly in control of the Lady Bears as they shot 50 percent (18-of-36) in the frame and never let the Panthers cut the deficit to single digits, the lead balloning to 20 points on multiple occasions.

The Lady Bears defense, which entered the game ranked No. 3 in the nation in field goal defense and No. 4 in blocks per game, exceeded their averages holding the Panthers to just 28.1 percent (16-of-57) shooting and rejected nine shots, with six different Lady Bears recording a block.

TURNING POINT

St. Joseph's held the Panthers scoreless over the final four minutes of the opening half and scored the final seven points to build a double-digit lead for the remainder of the game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Eight different Lady Bears recorded a field goal with Brittany Cervino and Jennifer Miller chipping in four points each and Kristen Candelaria adding two points.
• The Lady Bears dished out 21 assists on their 29 field foals with four players handing out at least four dimes and seven players recording a helper. It's the third straight game with 20-plus assists.
• The taller Albany Pharmacy won the battle of the boards, 44-37, but St. Joseph's won the battle in the paint doubling the Panthers scoring in the paint, 28-14.

THE LADY BEAR FACTS

• St. Joseph's shot above 40 percent from the field for the sixth time this season.
• St. Joseph's improves to 11-8 in the all-time series vs. the Panthers.
• The Lady Bears have averaged 9.3 blocks over their last six games.
• Taylor Raccuglia now sits two blocks away from becoming the second Lady Bear to reach the century rejection mark.

NEXT UP FOR THE LADY BEARS – NEW ROCHELLE

The Lady Bears will close out their conference slate on Monday, February 3 welcoming The College of New Rochelle to Brooklyn Technical High School starting at 7:30 p.m. With a win, St. Joseph's would lock up the No. 2 seed for the HVIAC Tournament.