Women's Basketball Tripped Up by Staten Island

NEW YORK – In the third-place game of the NYU Tip-Off Tournament, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team was unable to keep pace with a hot-shooting College of Staten Island team, falling 75-62 on Saturday evening at the Coles Sports Center.

Staten Island (1-1) came out of the gates shooting 50 percent and built as large as a 16-point lead before the break. The Lady Bears chipped away at the deficit in the second half, but couldn't get any closer than seven points on three separate occasions.

Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) led three Lady Bears in double figures, netting 20 points, including four three-pointers, and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds. Sophomore Erica Eddy (Glendale, N.Y./Christ the King) added 13 points and Kelly McNamee (Glendale, N.Y./Mary Louis) chipped in 12.

The Dolphins were paced by Lisa Galasso who scored a game-high 23 points and Melanie Johnson contributed an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double.

Turning Points

The Lady Bears would be plagued by a slow start connecting on just 29.7 percent of their attempts and committing 15 turnovers. Despite the poor start and 45.9 percent shooting from the Dolphins, St. Joseph's entered the lockers down by 13, 45-32.

Early in the second half, back-to-back fast-break layups from Jamilynn McGowan (Staten Island, N.Y./Michael J. Petrides) and a jumper from Retas assembled a 6-0 run that cut the deficit to seven with 14:17 to play. But the threat stalled and CSI used a 6-0 run of their own later in the half to lock up the victory

Inside the Box Score

• Other key contributors: Megan Moran (8 points, 9 rebounds), Jamilynn McGowan (6 points, 5 rebounds)
• After 29.7 percent shooting in the first half, the Lady Bears improved to 38.7 percent in the second half and finished with 33.8 percent for the contest.
• Retas' 17 rebounds helped St. Joseph's to a 52-46 rebounding edge.
• Staten Island made the most of 25 Lady Bear miscues, scoring 34 points off turnovers.

The Bear Facts

• St. Joseph's falls to 1-15 in the all-time series vs. their long-time interborough rivals and drops their second straight to the Dolphins.
• Retas' double-double was her ninth 20-point game of her career and seventh game with 15-plus rebounds.

Next up for the Lady Bears

The Lady Bears return to action on Wednesday, November 20th looking to get into the win column against Brooklyn foes Medgar Evers College with a 7 p.m. tip.