Lady Bears Ground Golden Eagles In East vs. West Battle

(PATCHOGUE, NY)  Freshman Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY / St. Francis Prep) scored a game-high 22 points and freshman Joanna Marciniec(Brooklyn, NY / Baruch) scored five points with 1:43 left to lead St. Joseph's-Brooklyn to a 58-54 win over St. Joseph's-LI at the Danzi Athletic Center.  This is the first meeting between the two campuses in almost ten years and there was a great turnout by students, alumni and administration from both campuses, the event billed as the "East vs. West Battle."

Despite the Golden Eagles entering the game winless, both teams were very evenly matched.  The first half saw both teams trading baskets and neither team able to pull away, remaining within two possessions.  Patchogue relied heavily on perimeter shooting but struggled to find their range, shooting less than 20% from the field and only 2 for 16 from behind the arc.  The half was sloppy with both teams combining for 51 turnovers and 21 fouls, both reaching the bonus with over eight minutes remaining. 

The Lady Bears took a small 28-23 halftime lead into the lockers eerily similar to the two losses the previous weekend at the Gallaudet Thanksgiving Tournament.  The Brooklyn coaching staff wondered if their team would have be able to close out a game and a 9-2 run to open the second stanza and build a 12 points lead indicated this game might be different.  The Golden Eagles kept McQuillan, who had 10 first-half points, contained and the Lady Bears found some early offense from their veterans Melissa Velez (Queens, NY / Mary Louis), Allison Kavanagh (Queens, NY / Mary Louis) and Julia Serewko(Queens, NY / Mary Louis). However, the offense went cold and Patchogue rallied with a 13-0 run to regain the lead at 40-39 with 9:06 to play.  McQuillan took over the Lady Bear offense to counter the Eagles, scoring the next nine Lady Bear points capped by a beautiful 3-point play on a drive to the hoop to cut the Eagle lead to one point.

With under two minutes to play and the Lady Bears down two, Coach Frank P. Carbone made a key substitution checking in Joanna Marciniec.  Marciniec has been a sparkplug for the Lady Bears offense and tonight would be no different.  On the first possession, the freshman shooting guard took a pass from McQuillan in the right corner and swished a 3-pointer to take back the lead.  On the other end of the floor, she grabbed a big defensive rebound and was fouled in the double-bonus and sank both shots from the charity stripe to extend the lead to three.  Patchogue was forced to shoot from long range which they struggled all game, going 4 for 27 in total. The Lady Bears added free throws from McQuillan and Velez to seal the 58-54 victory.

McQuillan dished out five assists, grabbed four rebounds, got two steals and shot 41% in route to her 22 points.  Marciniec finished with seven points and five boards in only 12 minutes of play. Melissa Velez netted 13, with 2 for 4 from behind the arc and 3 for 4 from the free throw line. Center Julia Serewko was a presence in the middle, leading the Lady Bears with nine boards, two blocks and six points. Sophomore Allison Kavanagh played in her first game since missing four games due to a back injury, saw limited minutes and added six points.

The Golden Eagles were led by Dana Carney who had 13 points and eight rebounds.  Carissa Pirotta added 12 points, five rebounds and three steals and Trish McMahon had 11 boards, nine points, three steals two assists and a block.

St. Joseph's-Brooklyn improves to 4-3 while St. Joseph's-LI remains winless at 0-7.  The Lady Bears have the weekend off and return to action on the road on Monday evening against Brooklyn College.  Game time is scheduled for 7:30 PM.