Women's Basketball Rings in New Year with 69-61 Triumph Over NJCU

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Destiny Marino (Middle Village, N.Y./Christ the King) scored 23 points and Erica Eddy (Glendale, N.Y./Christ the King) added a career-high-tying 17 powering a late fourth-quarter surge as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team pulled away from New Jersey City University for a 69-61 victory on Saturday afternoon for their second straight win.

The Basics

• Final Score: St. Joseph's 69, NJCU 61
• Records: St. Joseph's (3-10, 2-3 Skyline), NJCU (1-10, 0-5 NJAC)
• Date: January 2, 2016
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Arena: The Hill Center
• Starters:
  • St. Joseph's: Eddy (G), Marino (G), Simon (G), Porcasi (G), Candelaria (F)
  • NJCU: Randall (G), Johnson (G), Bizub (G), Williams (F), Fiedtkou (F)

Turning Point

• Still a two-point game midway through the fourth quarter, the Lady Bears held the Gothic Knights without a field goal over the final 4:43. Back-to-back fast break layups from Erica Eddy followed by a Samantha Simon three-pointer—all off NJCU turnovers—made up a 7-0 run over 42 seconds, building a nine point lead with two minutes to play.

How it Happened

• After Sharaunda Fiedtkou scored the opening basket, SJC scored the next 10 points to build an eight-point lead, but couldn't separate from the Gothic Knights as they pulled back to within two and the Lady Bears led by four after the first period.
• A Kellie O'Neill trifecta to open the second quarter built a seven-point lead and the freshman would score nine points over a span of 3:27 helping the Lady Bears maintain their lead. But the visitors would tie the game three times in the period and take the lead momentarily before back-to-back triples from Marino and Eddy helped SJC take a 35-33 lead into the lockers.
• Deseree Johnson took over out of the lockers and scored the first 11 points for the Gothic Knights—finishing with 13 in the 3rd quarter—to take the lead for over five minutes. But an 11-0 run for SJC, highlighted by a Simon bucket and-one, took back the lead and built an eight-point advantage, but St. Joseph's still couldn't pull away and led by only two headed to the final period, 53-51.
• The teams remained within two for the first part of the quarter and a Kristen Candelaria 18-footer from the corner gave the Lady Bears the lead for good with 6:45 to play. Eddy would then score six points the rest of the way—all on fast break layups—and finish with eight of SJC's 16 points in the frame to close out the game outscoring the Gothic Knights 12-4.

For the Lady Bears

• Destiny Marino scored a game-high-tying 23 points and flirted with a double-double with a career-high nine assists. She padded the stat line with six rebounds and a game-high four steals.
• Erica Eddy matched her career-high, netting 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting with six rebounds.
• Samantha Simon scored in double-figures for the second straight game posting 12 points and seven rebounds.
• Kellie O'Neill provided a spark off the bench scoring nine points in 11 minutes of action, shooting 3-of-6 and 2-of-4 from behind-the-arc.

For the Gothic Knights

• Deseree Johnson shared game-high honors with 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting and grabbed 12 boards for a double-double.
• Christine Bizub tallied 12 points with three rebounds.
• Megan Semeniak added nine points off the bench with four rebounds.

Inside the Box Score

• The Lady Bears led for most of the first half despite NJCU outshooting them 45 to 31 percent. 
• St. Joseph's forced nearly twice as many miscues (23-12) and outscored NJCU 30-3 in points off turnovers and 14-4 in fast break scoring. Their 12 turnovers committed were one shy of their season low.
• Both teams shot an identical 39.3 percent (24-61) from the field, but it was the Lady Bears who improved from a poor first half, shooting 48 percent (14-29) in the second stanza.
• NJCU struggled from the free throw line sinking just 44 percent (7-16) of their attempts.

The Bear Facts

• St. Joseph's closes the gap in the all-time series to 5-4. The squads have now traded wins in the last six encounters.
• Marino's fell one assist shy of being the only the third Lady Bear to dish out double digit helpers. Annamarie Ciorciari holds the single-game record of 12 and has logged seven 10-plus assist games.
• Marino has now scored 20-plus points in six games, crossing the plateau in four of her last five outings.

Next up for St. Joseph's

The Lady Bears will look to extend their two-game win streak returning to Skyline Conference action, facing Purchase College on Monday, January 4th on the road. The women open a twinbill with the men starting at 6 p.m. in Purchase with live stats on SJCBears.com