Women's Basketball Drops Decision to Southern Virginia, 76-64

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Turnovers plagued the St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) women's basketball team as they were defeated by Southern Virginia University, 76-64, at the Activities Resources Center of Pratt Institute Saturday night.

The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Lady Bears (2-1) to start the 2014-15 season.

Senior Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) recorded her second straight double-double, scoring a game-high 19 points and grabbing a team-high 12 rebounds and six assists in a losing effort. Jamilynn McGowan (Staten Island, N.Y./Michael J. Petrides) poured in 15 points, while freshman Destiny Marino (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) added 10 points, five assists and seven rebounds. 

Samantha Simon (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) contributed 11 points of the team's 15 bench points.

Crystal Cleveland netted 18 points and 11 boards and Marissa Belliston contributed 18 points and six steals in the victory for the Knights (2-4). Melynda Boren led the game with seven steals in the contest. 

Turnovers plagued the Lady Bears throughout the game, as Southern Virginia's suffocating full-court pressure forced 35 St. Joseph's turnovers. This would lead to 31 points on the other end for the Knights. 

The game started with both teams going back and forth, trading the lead for the first few minutes. Then after getting out to a 14-13 advantage in the first half, the Lady Bears would allow an 11-3 Southern Virginia run and would not lead the rest of the game as they trailed 40-34 headed into intermission.

The second half saw St. Joseph's claw back to within eight after trailing by double digits, but they struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm due to the press and could not cut the deficit any further. 

St. Joseph's lost the game despite having both the assist (21-17) and rebounding (44-40) advantage. Despite the loss, they played very actively on defense as well, pressuring the Knights into 29 turnovers of their own and scored 34 fast break points.

The Lady Bears will seek to bounce back as they face Cedar Crest College on Monday, December 1st at Brooklyn Technical High School. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com.