The Bear Facts

SJC Brooklyn and the United States Merchant Marine Academy meet on Tuesday night for the first time since the 2020 Skyline Conference Tournament Final. The Bears return six players who saw playing time in the game including a trio of starters. Kelly O’Donnell (14 pts) and Emma Kiley (11 pts) each finished the game scoring in double figures and nine rebounds each. O’Donnell also dished out four assists while Kiley made three steals.

Prior to their defeat against SJC Long Island over the weekend, the Bears picked up their first conference win last Tuesday over Yeshiva. O’Donnell logged 31 points and 12 boards, her ninth career 30-plus-point game. Kiley scored 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting with a game-high 14 caroms. Jamie Provino and Alexis Breen also posted season-highs of 16 and 14 points, respectively, against the Maccabees. O’Donnell and Kiley also logged double-doubles against the Golden Eagles on Saturday. Provino and Breen dropped 12 points each and Grace Kennedy scored 10 points of her own off the bench.

O’Donnell’s 12.7 rebounds per game lead the conference while her 19.5 points are good for fifth. Breen’s 5.3 assists per game place the junior second.

The Bears take The Hill Center floor for the final time in 2021 before returning for a three-game homestand beginning on January 6, 2022, against Purchase.

Sailor Stories

Despite falling to Manhattanville last Wednesday, USMMA enters tonight’s meeting with SJC Brooklyn at 3-1 in Skyline play (4-1 overall). The defending conference champions defeated the Bears in the 2020 Skyline Tournament Final before falling to No. 18 Rowan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Grace Jackson (12 pts, 7 reb) and Bryanne Buchanan-Cummings (11 pts, 8 reb) put up near-identical numbers against the Valiants. Buchanan-Cummings also forced two steals and blocked a shot while Jackson was one of three Mariners to dish out a pair of assists. Junior Madison Demos pulled a game-high nine rebounds in defeat.

Jackson and Buchanan-Cummings are also one-two on the team in scoring, posting 14.8 and 11.2 points per game, respectively. Jackson’s total is good for eighth in the Skyline. Demos’ 10.8 caroms per contest place her third in the league while Buchanan-Cummings’ 10.6 rounds out the top five. With 8.0 rebounds a night, Jackson sits 10th in the conference.

Senior Julia Dahlke played in each of the three games against SJC in 2019-20, averaging 13 points; including 16 points and seven rebounds in the conference title game.

Today’s game is the start of five straight away from Kings Point and six of the next seven; a run that ends against rivals Coast Guard.