Pair of Double-Doubles Help Women's Basketball Rally Past CCNY, 64-53

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) veteran frontcourt provided a big boost as the team rallied back from a first-half deficit to defeat the City College of New York, 64-53 Saturday afternoon at Nat Holman Gymnasium.

Senior Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) notched her first double-double of the season for the Lady Bears (5-4), scoring a career-high 21 points and securing 10 rebounds. Her teammate in the frontcourt Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) recorded her sixth double-double this campaign, tallying 15 points and grabbing 13 boards.

Freshman guard Destiny Marino (Queens, N.Y./Christ the King) was a rebound shy of her third double-double, netting 14 points and snaring nine rebounds.

Robin Daley led all scorers for the Beavers (2-7) with 10 points and seven rebounds. Marissa Olsen and Tiara Brown each scored nine points, while Bria Fisher added seven points and eight rebounds in a losing effort.

The Lady Bears grabbed an early advantage and led by as many as seven points halfway through the first half. With 5:04 left, the Beavers got their first lead of the game, going on a 12-5 offensive outburst as St. Joseph's went into halftime trailing, 32-25.

In the second half, St. Joseph's began to chip away but CCNY continued hold on to their small lead. Trailing 48-44 with 10:01 left in the half, the Lady Bears began to take control of the game and grabbed their first lead of the half with a Marino layup at with 6:28 remaining.  This led to a game-deciding 20-5 run to close out the contest that sealed the victory. Retas had six points during the run, while Marino and Raccuglia chipped in with five and four, respectively.

St. Joseph's played unrelenting defense, allowing the Beavers to shoot just 29.4% (20 for 68) from the field, including 22.2% (8 for 36) in the second half.  Their defense also forced 23 turnovers, and scored 26 points off those turnovers. The rebounding between the two teams was even at 46 apiece.

This was the last contest for the Lady Bears in the year 2014. They will kick off the New Year down south in Puerto Rico when they face off with Puerto Rico-Cayey on Sunday, January 4th. Tip time is set for 6 p.m.