The Bear Facts

SJC Brooklyn will play the first of back-to-back games against Purchase College on Saturday afternoon. The two sides will meet again in the return leg of the season series on Tuesday night in Purchase.

On Tuesday night, Emma Kiley dropped 21 points and was a rebound short of a double-double at conference-unbeaten Mount Saint Mary. Grace Kennedy provided 18 points and seven rebounds. The two combined to shoot 15-of-31 from the field in the losing effort. Jamie Provino shared the team lead with Kiley with nine boards.

Against Mount Saint Vincent on Thursday, Kelly O’Donnell finished with 20 points; including 18 fourth-quarter points to spark the Bears’ comeback bid that ultimately fell short. She also pulled 10 boards for her 40th career double-double. Kiley scored 15 points of her own while Provino registered eight points, seven caroms, and four steals.

O’Donnell (17.2 points per game, 6th), Kiley (14.9, 11th), Alexis Breen (11.1, 22nd), and Kennedy (10.9, 24th) – are all in the conference top 25 in scoring. O’Donnell’s 10.8 boards per outing are good for second in the league while Breen’s 4.7 assists per game have her in fourth.

SJC swept the season series in 2019-20 and holds a 19-4 all-time record against Purchase and is 9-2 since joining the Skyline in the 2015-16 season.

The Panther Pulse

Purchase College enters today’s meeting with St. Joseph’s Brooklyn on the heels of their first win of the 2021-22 season; a 53-48 triumph on Thursday night against Sarah Lawrence.

Ariella Johnson led a trio of Panthers in double figures, scoring a game-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds, three assists, and as many steals. Miya Ritchie finished with 17 points, seven caroms, and three takeaways while Kasia Morrison had 11 points and seven boards. Ariel Johnson also had seven rebounds in the victory. The Panthers, who shoot 63 percent from the free-throw line this year, shot an efficient 19-of-21 (90 percent) from the stripe on Thursday. The win was Purchase’s first since February 11, 2020, coincidentally, against the Gryphons.

Johnson’s 13.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game lead the team. Shadai Plowden ranks second in either category (11.5 ppg and 6.5 rpg) but has missed the last four games since the turn of the new year. Ariel Johnson’s 6.3 boards per outing rounds out the Purchase top three in rebounding.

A win over the Bears would be the program’s fifth in 24 meetings dating back to 1999 and the first since upsetting the Bears at The Hill Center in the opening round of the 2019 Skyline Conference Championship.