Kiley Sets New Single-Season Blocks Record; O’Donnell Goes for 25 in Women’s Basketball's Defeat to Merchant Marine

KINGS POINT, N.Y. — With five rejections for the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team on Wednesday evening against the United States Merchant Marine Academy, freshman Emma Kiley (Whitestone, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) broke the program's single-season blocks record; bringing her total to 74 on the year.

Junior Kelly O'Donnell (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) poured in a game-high 25 points as the Bears (11-9, 9-6 Skyline) fell to the Mariners (17-3, 14-2 Skyline), 48-41, at the Leibertz Gymnasium.

How it Happened

Following a Julia Dahlke jumper to put Merchant Marine on the board first, Kiley and O'Donnell split the next eight points between them. On the defensive end, Kiley blocked a pair of Mariner shots in the opening period. The host did get a bucket with 26 seconds remaining in the first, cutting their deficit to half, 8-4, entering the second stanza.

The Bears held onto their lead in the second quarter, thanks to a pair of O'Donnell three-pointers. Lauren Quesada (Westbury, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) also found the hole in the period to contribute to the team's 10 points in the period. The hosts did, however, narrow their deficit to one on a pair of buckets by junior guard Kiana Vega in the final minute to close out a low-scoring first half. SJC took their 18-17 advantage into the locker room.

Dahlke hit a trey to give USMMA their first lead since the opening points of the contest to start the third quarter. Neither team led by more than three in a period that featured a pair of ties and nine lead changes. With 5:02 on the clock, Kiley picked up her third block of the game to equal the single-season blocks record at 72 and took sole possession of the record 90 seconds later. The Mariners led 32-29, taking a 5-0 scoring run into the fourth quarter.

Merchant Marine capped off their scoring run at 7-0 with a layup to begin the final period. Despite USMMA leading for the rest of the game, the Bears trailed by as many as three. Five points from O'Donnell and three from Samantha Wilber (Island Heights, N.J./Central Regional) in the period weren't enough as the hosts took the game, 48-41, for their 11th consecutive victory.

For the Bears

• O'Donnell was the only Bear to finish the game with double-digit points (25) and rebounds (15).
• Kiley's 5 blocks brought her season total in the category to 74; two greater than Samantha Retas '15 who held the previous record of 72. The defending Skyline Rookie of the Week also pulled six boards, scored four points and forced a steal.
• Jamie Provino (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) scored five points while recording 4 caroms and three assists.
• Deserae Sequeira (Clark, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson) had six rebounds and as many assists while coming up with two takeaways.

Up Next

The Bears welcome Farmingdale State College to The Hill Center on Saturday, February 8 at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available in SJCBears.com/live.