Women's Basketball Captures HVIAC Championship over Albany Pharmacy, Retas Named MVP

ALBANY, N.Y. – The No. 2 St. Joseph's (Brooklyn) women's basketball team rode a second-half flurry as they defeated No. 1 Albany Pharmacy, 74-63, to capture the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) title Sunday night at the Albert M. White Gymnasium in Albany.

This is the second title in three seasons for the Lady Bears (17-10, 5-1 HVIAC). This is their sixth conference championship in school history as they close out the final year in the HVIAC, moving to the Skyline Conference next season.

Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) recorded her 14th double-double on the season, finishing with a game and season-high 28 points (17 in the second half), 10 boards and five blocks. With her fifth rebound of the game, the senior also became part of the exclusive 1,000-point/1,000-rebound club. 

For her performance, Retas was named the HVIAC Tournament's Most Valuable Player. She along with Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and Destiny Marino (Middle Village, N.Y./Christ the King) were all named to the HVIAC All-Conference Team. In addition, head coach Frank P. Carbone was tabbed conference Co-Head Coach of the Year and Marino earned Co-Rookie of the Year accolades.

Raccuglia also tallied a double-double of her own, grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds along with 16 points and three assists. Marino tallied 13 points along with eight rebounds and three assists.

St. Joseph's also got eight points from Samantha Simon (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney), while Erica Eddy (Glendale, N.Y./Christ the King) chipped in seven points, including two three-pointers, off the bench.

Dannie Griffin led the Panthers (15-8, 5-2 HVIAC) with a double-double in a losing effort, scoring 22 points along with 13 rebounds. Megan Surley added 12 points, while Alexa Schooley finished with 11 points.

The Lady Bears started out with the advantage through the first 10 minutes of the first half, but then the Panthers would hang around and grab their first lead with 9:40 remaining in the half.

Trailing by two, St. Joseph's would rattle off a 12-2 run, including six points from Retas, over the next four minutes to go up by as many as 10. The Lady Bears shot a blistering 60.0% from the field in the first half that helped them go into halftime with a 39-32 lead.

Albany Pharmacy would get back into the contest the first three and a half minutes of the second half. St. Joseph's went cold from the field, and the Panthers fought back with a 14-4 run as they went up 45-43 with 14:39 remaining in regulation.

The turning point of the game followed as the Lady Bears erupted with a 21-8 run over the next nine minutes of play, 14 of those points coming from Retas, as they secured their biggest lead of the game. The Panthers would put up a valiant effort towards the end, but St. Joseph's capped off the title hitting their free throws down the stretch.

One of the top defensive teams in NCAA Division III all season, the Lady Bears held Albany Pharmacy to just 29.2% overall shooting throughout the game. This includes shutting down Schooley, one of the top scorers in the conference, to just one-of-16 shooting. They also owned the assists (15-6) and rebounding (51-41) edge.

Following their win, the team will now wait to see if they grab their second straight USCAA Championship bid, which will be announced tomorrow.