Women’s Basketball Opens Three-Game Homestand with Close Defeat to Merchant Marine

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In a contest that saw seven ties and nine lead changes, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team dropped a close 50-43 result to the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday afternoon from The Hill Center. The Bears fall to 8-7 overall (6-4 conference) while the defending Skyline Conference champions improve to 10-3 overall (8-2 conference)

How it Happened

Lauren Quesada (Westbury, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) scored the opening four points for the Bears. With Merchant Marine holding on to the 6-4 advantage with four minutes remaining in the first, Jamie Provino (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) and Samantha Wilber (Island Heights, N.J./Central Regional) hit back-to-back three-pointers to retake the lead. Wilber hit her second trey of the period with less than 20 seconds to go before USMMA cut the deficit to three with six seconds left, ending the quarter with the score 13-10 in favor of SJC.

Following a pair of buckets in the paint that saw the visitors take the lead to begin the second, Wilber hit her third three-pointer of the game to swing the lead into the Bears' favor with Quesada and Provino extending the lead to six. Merchant Marine narrowed their deficit to as many as with 3:30 to go, eventually cutting their deficit to two as the Bears led 24-22 heading into the half.

Neither side led by more than three in the third quarter. After conceding a pair of buckets to USMMA's Lauren Hunter, the Bears scored nine points in the period, which included a Provino three-pointer to take the lead. The Mariners entered the fourth quarter coming off six straight points to take the lead for good, 36-33.

Despite not having the lead in the fourth, the Bears came to within a point on a corner three from Kelly O'Donnell (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) with 7:19 remaining in regulation. The visitors led by seven with less than a minute to go, ultimately closing out the game with the 50-43 victory; extending their win streak to four games.

Post-Game Interviews

For the Bears

• Quesada posted a team-leading 14 points in her first game back after missing four due to injury. She also had nine rebounds and an assist.
• O'Donnell was SJC's leading rebounder with 13 to go along with seven points.
• All of Wilber's nine points came from beyond the arc.
• Provino, who played all 40 minutes of the game also had seven points and five boards.
• Deserae Sequeira (Clark, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson) registered seven assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals.

Up Next

The Bears welcome the Purchase College Panthers in the middle game of their homestand on Wednesday, January 22 at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on SJCBears.com/live.