Porcasi Surpasses 1,000 Points as Women’s Basketball Drops Purchase

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Junior captain Victoria Porcasi (Franklin Square, N.Y./H. Frank Carey) notched her 1,000th career point with a three-pointer in the fourth quarter as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team defeated Purchase State College on Saturday afternoon. Porcasi and three-time Skyline Rookie of the Week Kelly O'Donnell (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) combined for 37 points and the Bears moved past .500 in league play pushing their Skyline record to 5-4.

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 78, Purchase 55
• Records: St. Joseph's (7-9, 5-4), Purchase (5-7, 3-5)
• Location: Purchase, N.Y.
• SJC Starters: Sequeira (G), Porcasi (G), DiCioccio (G), O'Donnell (G), Staab (C)

Turning Point

• The Bears put together a 17-5 run over the final seven minutes of the third quarter to take a commanding 62-45 lead entering the final period.

How It Happened

• Porcasi's second trey of the game at 1:22 in the first put her team up by 10 (19-9) and she then drained her third deep-ball as time expired giving the Bears a 22-14 lead after one.
• Two minutes into the second a Nyasia Harris layup brought Purchase within two (22-20), but the visitors scored seven-straight points (capped by two O'Donnell freebies) to go back up 29-20 (5:51). Purchase hung around, though, as O'Donnell (13 pts) and Porcasi (12) had SJC up 43-34 at the half.
• Skyline scoring leader Amber Jones' (19.1 ppg) finish at 7:01 in the third narrowed the Panthers' gap to 45-40, but St. Joseph's immediately broke the game open with their 17-5 spurt completed by a triple from O'Donnell 11 seconds before the buzzer.
• Porcasi's triple halfway through the fourth (6:16) propelled her into the thousand-point club while pushing the Bears' advantage to 22 (69-47). They wouldn't look back from there, outscoring Purchase 16-10 in the frame and cruising to their seventh win of 2017-18.

For the Bears

• O'Donnell picked up her 14th-straight game in double-figures (20 points) and her second-straight with 20-plus, while also contributing six boards, five assists, and three steals.
• Porcasi totaled 17 (6-14, 4-9) while dishing out three assists and adding two caroms and a steal.
• Junior Nina DiCioccio (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) notched her first-career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 17 rebounds (6 ast).

Inside the Box Score

• Bench points swayed the game greatly, as the Bears poured in 21 (Purchase: 6) led by Taylor Raccuglia's (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) second-straight 10-point outing (4 blk).
• Efficient long-range shooting (36%) aided SJC in the victory and they held the Panthers to a dismal 9.5% 3FG percentage.

The Bear Facts

• The captain reached the 1,000-point milestone in just 66 games played (15.2 career ppg).
• SJC has now won seven-straight versus Purchase and leads the all-time series 16-2.

Next Up for the Bears

• The third of four-straight on the road taking on Mount Saint Vincent on Wednesday (Jan. 24) at 7 p.m. Live stats available at SJCBears.com.