Lady Bears Drop Heartbreaking One Point Decision to St. Elizabeth in Home Opener

BROOKLYN, NY – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team built a double-digit second half lead, but couldn't hold off College of St. Elizabeth, dropping a 59-58 decision in their home opener at Brooklyn Technical High School on Tuesday night.

Senior Ashley McQuillan (Brooklyn, NY/St. Francis Prep) led St. Joseph's (0-5) with 13 points and a game high five steals. Sophomore Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic) chipped in season-high 12 points. Junior Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) added eight points and six rebounds. Senior Kristin Binckes (Brooklyn, NY/St. Savior) secured a team-high nine rebounds for the Lady Bears who outrebounded their opponent for the first time this season, 48-40.

St. Elizabeth (2-2) was led by Junior Jade Wilson who tallied 24 points to go along with six assists, both game highs. Junior Kelly O'Dell recorded a 10 point, 12 rebound double-double and senior Sabrina Jarmolinski fell one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.

A Joanne Crimeni (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Ford) layup at the 10:32 mark of the opening frame gave the Lady Bears their first lead of the game which they would hold through most of the second half. St. Joseph's assembled a 6-0 run late in the half to extend their lead to nine before carrying a 30-23 lead into the lockers.

St. Joseph's continued to roll to open the second stanza shooting 5-for-8 over the first five minutes to push their lead to double digits, 41-30. But the tide turned quickly as the Lady Bear shots stopped falling and the Eagles went on a 9-0 run over four minutes capped by back-to-back three pointers by Wilson and Anastasia Feola to cut the Lady Bears lead to one, 41-40, with 11:50 left.

After the hot start to the half, the Lady Bears shooting struggled for the remainder of the frame, shooting 14 percent (4-for-29) over the final 15 minutes and finished shooting 24 percent for the half while Eagles improved their connect rate to 44 percent. St. Elizabeth assembled another 10-1 run to take the lead back and quickly extend to eight, 55-47.

St. Joseph's would slowly chip away to pull within reach and with under minute remaining, McQuillan went 3-for-4 from the line to bring the Lady Bears within one, 59-58, setting up a furious sequence in the final seconds. With nine seconds remaining and the length of the floor to go, McQuillan put up a tough shot that was too strong. The rebound was secured by Joanna Marciniec (Glendale, NY/Baruch) on the low block and couldn't convert on the putback as she appeared to be fouled and Moran put up another putback which drew some contact, but the official's whistles lay silent as the final buzzer sounded.

The loss is the first for the Lady Bears in their home opener since 1999, snapping an 11-game win streak and the seventh straight loss to the former Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference rivals.

St. Joseph's hits the road in search of their first win facing York College (NY) on Saturday, December 3 at 2 p.m.