Four In Double Figures Not Enough For Women’s Basketball in Opener at Baruch

NEW YORK —  Senior Kelly O'Donnell (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds but the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team fell on the road to Baruch College, 75-56, on Wednesday evening.

How It Happened

An O'Donnell three-point play a minute and a half in gave the Bears (0-1) a 5-4 lead before the Bearcats (1-0) went on a 13-0 run. Grace Kennedy (Maspeth, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) scored her first collegiate points with a layup to end the scoring drought and added another bucket, but the Bears found themselves down 25-10 after one period.

SJC chipped away at the deficit throughout the second and brought it to single digits on an O'Donnell free throw with 2:32 before halftime and Lauren Duggan's (Breezy Point, N.Y./St. Saviour) trifecta a minute later pulled the Bears within seven and entered the lockers trailing 36-27.

The Bears struggled to find the range coming out of the lockers as Baruch opened the second half on a 6-0 run to build a 15-point advantage but later in the frame Alexis Breen (Union Beach, N.J./Keyport) and O'Donnell powered a 5-0 run that shrank the deficit to eight, 51-43.

But Baruch responded with 11 unanswered spanning into the fourth quarter and maintained a double-digit separation the rest of the way.

Mia Castillo paced the hosts with game-highs of 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 12 assists for a triple-double.

For the Bears

• O'Donnell recorded her 33rd career double-double (7th in Division III).
• Kennedy finished with 13 points off the bench in her first collegiate outing and flirted with a double-double with eight boards. 
• Breen also finished with 13 points, grabbed three rebounds, dished out a trio of assists, and had two steals.
• Duggan rounded out four scoring in double figures with 11.
• SJC had more than double the amount of attempts from the free throw line and connected at a 74 percent rate but Baruch had twice as many field goals and connected on 45 percent of their attempts from the floor.

Next Up

The Bears return to Manhattan on Saturday, October 13 to face another CUNYAC foe Hunter College in a non-conference match tipping off at noon. Fans will not be permitted but live stats and video links will be available at SJCBears.com/live.