Women's Basketball Prevail on Defense to Roll Past Cedar Crest, 55-32

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team played stifling defense throughout the game as they led wire-to-wire and defeated Cedar Crest, 55-32 Monday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The Lady Bears (3-1) excelled on defense throughout the game, holding the Falcons to just 19.4% (19 for 63) percent shooting.

There was a balanced attack on offense for St. Joseph's, led by Jamilynn McGowan (Staten Island, N.Y./Michael J. Petrides) who led all scorers with 12 points. Freshman Destiny Marino (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) had 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. She now has dished off four assists or more in each of her first four games in a Lady Bears uniform.

Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) fell two points and a rebound shy of a double (eight points, nine rebounds) while her fellow senior Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) netted four points to go along with six boards and six assists.

Breonna Lewis led the Falcons (1-5) by tallying a double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in a losing cause.

St. Joseph's jumped out early in the first half and built up a double-digit lead halfway through. They then would close the half on 13-2 run, including baskets from six different players, in final 5:23 to go into the locker room up 33-11.

The second half began the same way the first ended, with St. Joseph's erupting for an 11-2 run in the first six minutes that would put them up as many as 32 points.

The Lady Bears, who came into the game second in all of Division III in assists per game (23.7), did another great job distributing the ball by dishing off 19 assists on 23 field goals.

St. Joseph's will look for their fourth win in five games when they travel to Riverdale, N.Y. when they face off with future Skyline Conference rival Mount Saint Vincent. Tip off is at 5:30 p.m. Live stats will be available on SJCBears.com.