Women's Basketball Gameday: Lady Bears vs. Briarcliffe

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – St. Joseph's (13-8) looks to win their season-high fifth game in a row, facing USCAA rivals Briarcliffe College (8-7) at Brooklyn Technical High School on Friday, February 7th at 7:30 p.m.

Game Information

Briarcliffe College (8-7) vs.
St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) (13-8, 4-1 HVIAC)

Friday, February 7th • 7:30 p.m.
Brooklyn Technical High School • Brooklyn, N.Y.

Live Stats | Live Video - Play-by-play: Sitesh Shah (@SSWfan)
Twitter | Instagram (@SJCBears, #SJCWBB)

Storylines

• The two teams meet with the contest having USCAA National Tournament implications as the Lady Bears come in ranked No. 6 in the latest USCAA coaches' poll, while the Bulldogs come in at No. 14.
• The two rivals have played each other on eight previous occasions with Briarcliffe holding a 6-2 edge in the series. St. Joseph's has dropped the last three meetings with their last win comng on February 9, 2010.
• The two squads come into tonight's game on opposite sides of the spectrum with the Lady Bears looking for their fifth win a row while the Bulldogs look to snap a three-game losing streak.
• St. Joseph's looks to continue its dominance of opponents on the defensive end of the floor, holding the opposition to 29.6 percent shooting, good for top five in the nation.
• St. Joseph's tries to advance its position among the NCAA leaders in blocked shots, entering the week No. 2 in Division III, averaging 6.8 blocks per game on the season.
• Megan Moran tries to reach double figures in scoring for the ninth time out of the last ten games.

Series History

Briarcliffe holds a 6-2 advantage in a series that dates back to January 20, 2005. The Bulldogs have won the last three meetings with the last Lady Bears win coming on February 9, 2010.

Last Meeting

In a matchup featuring two ranked USCAA teams, No. 17 Briarcliffe used a 19-1 first-half run to hand No. 15 St. Joseph's an 84-66 setback on January 9, 2013 at Brooklyn Technical High School.

Neither team led by more than five points early in the opening frame but the Bulldogs broke open a one-point game with their 19-1 spurt in just over five minutes that sent them into the lockers up 37-22, and led the rest of the way.

The Lady Bears were paced by 19 points from Teresa Mangan and 18 points by Megan Moran.

The Lady Bear Facts

Last Time Out: St. Joseph's had to rally from a double-digit deficit to extend their winning streak to four games, dismissing York College, 57-50, on Wednesday night at York College Gym. The Lady Bears used a 12-1 run over a span of six minutes in the second half to give themselves a 53-46 lead with just over three minutes to play. Megan Moran and Kelly McNamee each scored 17 points, while Brittany Cervino added a career-high 14 points off the bench.

St. Joseph's looks to make the USCAA National Tournament for the first time since the 2009-10 season and a win against the No. 14 Bulldogs would go a long way to securing a spot as the Lady Bears come in at No. 6 in the latest coaches' poll.

Defense has been the key contributing factor to St. Joseph's success this season as they hold opponents to an impressive 29.6 percent shooting from the field, a number that had them ranked No. 3 in the latest Division III rankings. The Lady Bears are also among the nation's best at protecting the rim, averaging 6.8 blocks per game, good for No. 2 in Division III in the rankings released Monday.

After a couple of low-scoring games to conclude January, senior Kelly McNamee has begun to heat up in the month of February, averaging 15.0 points per game on 45.8 percent shooting over two games and currently leads the team on the season with 12.4 points per game. The guard is potent from beyond the arc and at the charity stripe, shooting 35.9 and 92.3 percent, respectively.

The new year has resulted in an increase in production from senior Megan Moran who is averaging 14.7 points per game so far in 2014 on 50.4 percent shooting to see her scoring average increase to a career-high 11.8 points per game and her field goal percentage rise to 45.9 percent.

Adding production in the frontcourt is a pair of juniors in Taylor Raccuglia and Samantha Retas. Both provide contributions in all aspects of the game with Raccuglia averaging 11.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.4 blocks (No. 2 in USCAA) and 1.3 steals per game. Retas adds 9.7 points and a team-high 10.3 rebounds per game (No. 4 in USCAA). The forward fills out the stat sheet with 2.7 assists and 2.3 blocks per game (No. 3 in USCAA) and has a team-high seven double-doubles.

Inside the Dog House

Last Time Out: Briarcliffe suffered a 62-50 setback to fellow USCAA member Berkeley College on February 1st. The Lady Bulldogs were led by Kiara Johnson who had a game-high 31 points.

Briarcliffe comes in ranked No. 14 in the latest USCAA Division I coaches' poll and looks to pick up a win against the No. 6 ranked Lady Bears which will help them in their quest to make the USCAA Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs play at a slow pace, averaging only 51.2 points per game on the season and shoot 39.3 percent from the field. Briarcliffe takes good care of the rock, leading the USCAA in fewest turnovers with 9.4 per game.

Pacing the Lady Bulldogs on offense is Shentia Urquhart who averages a team-high 15.1 points per game and leads the team with 30 made trifectas. Adding a double-double presence in the frontcourt is Sasha SantaMaria who averages 11.0 points per game on 52.5 percent shooting (No. 5 in USCAA) and leads the team with 11.8 boards per game (No. 2 in USCAA).

Kiara Johnson adds 12.1 points per game and dishes out a team-best 4.1 assists per game.

Did You Know?

Junior Taylor Raccuglia became the second Lady Bear to record 100 career blocks with her two rejections at York on Wednesday. Samantha Retas has already supassed the career century block mark (104), but needs eight more rejections to reach 100 as a Lady Bear, having played her freshman season at Wilmington University.

Team Comparison

Lady Bears	Nickname	Lady Bulldogs
13-8 (4-1)	Record	8-7
HVIAC	Conference	USCAA
Roster | Schedule | Statistics	Team Info	Roster | Schedule | Statistics
Kelly McNamee (12.4)	Top Pts.	Shentia Urquhart (15.1)
Samantha Retas (10.3)	Top Reb.	Sasha SantaMaria (11.8)
Kristin D'Chiutiis (3.2)	Top Ast.	Kiara Johnson (4.1)
61.9 (+4.1)	Scoring	51.2 (-0.3)
38.4%	FG %	39.3%
64.5%	FT %	54.9%
27.3%	3FG %	28.8%
46.3 (-1.5)	Rebounds	32.2 (+4.3)
16.6	Assists	9.2
18.9 (-2.1)	Turnovers	9.4 (+0.7)
7.1	Steals	7.4
6.8	Blocks	1.0