Late Rally Falls Short as Women's Basketball Drops to John Jay, 67-62

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team battled back in the second half, but could not come away with the victory as they were defeated by John Jay, 67-62, Sunday afternoon at the Hill Center.

With the loss, the Lady Bears (14-8, 4-0 HVIAC) snap their seven-game winning streak.

Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) recorded her 11th double-double on the season. The senior tallied a game-high 18 points, including three triples, and 15 rebounds in a losing effort. Destiny Marino (Middle Village, N.Y./Christ the King) added 11 points along with eight boards, eight assists and four steals.

Kristin Ferrigno (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds to go with four points, while Taylor Raccuglia scored nine points and four rebounds. Brittany Cervino (College Park, N.Y./St. Agnes) and Samantha Simon (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) each poured in eight points for the Lady Bears.

Josephine Diaz led four Bloodhounds (5-14) in double figures with 17 points, including four three-pointers, and added four assists in the win. Both Victoria Royal (11 points and team-high 13 rebounds) and Amber Villegas (14 points and 11 boards) notched double-doubles.

Brianna Cunningham added 14 points and eight rebounds for John Jay, while Terri Chu got all nine of her points from three three-pointers.

Both teams went back and forth with three ties and four lead changes in the first half. With 8:05 in the stanza and St. Joseph's leading 21-18, John Jay unleashed a 16-0 run over the next six minutes to put them up by 15 as they went into halftime up 38-26.

In the second half, the Bloodhounds built their lead back up to as many as 16 points. St. Joseph's would then begin to chip away at the deficit with their full court pressure. Trailing by nine, the Lady Bears rallied with a 9-2 advantage to cut the deficit to a point with 40 seconds left. Villegas would hit two free throws that put John Jay up by three with 31 seconds.

With one last chance to even the score, Raccuglia's three-point attempt fell short as the Bloodhounds hit two more free throws to close out the win.

In the game, St. Joseph's shot just 32.9 percent from the floor and just 5-for-10 from the charity stripe. John Jay connected on 41.7 percent of their shots, including 7-for-17 from three-point range. The Lady Bears did own the 52-43 rebounding advantage and outscored them 30-20 in the paint. 

The Lady Bears will look to bounce back on the road when they face off with borough rival Brooklyn Colllege out of the CUNYAC on Wednesday, February 11th. Tip time for the women's game is at 6:00 p.m.