Saint Joseph's College (5-3, 1-0 GNAC) overcame a sluggish start to defeat Colby-Sawyer College (2-5, 0-1 GNAC), 72-32, in what was the 2022-23 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener for both programs at Mike McDevitt Court on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Both teams endured abysmal shooting performances early, as the GNAC counterparts stood at a 5-5 tie with 2:46 left in the first quarter after combining to post an 11.1% (2-22) effort from the field to start the game. After missing 10 straight attempts from beyond the arc in the opening seven minutes, the Monks received a pair of threes from Angelica Hurley (Groveland, Mass.) and another from Hailey Anderson (Beverly, Mass.) to stake a 14-10 lead going into the second stanza.
Clinging to a 14-13 edge at the 8:15 mark of the second quarter, the Monks mounted a 20-6 run spanning the remainder of the frame and led by a 34-19 score going into intermission. SJC junior guard Nina Howe (York, Maine) netted 12 points and was 5-for-7 from the field during the hosts' surge.
In the third quarter, Saint Joseph's essentially put the game out of reach with an 18-2 offensive burst, which was closed out with a Hannah Talon (Windham, Maine) trifecta and the Monks on top, 52-21, with 4:43 left in the penultimate period.
St. Joe's continued to dominate the scoresheet and held a game-high 42-point (72-30) cushion after freshman guard Elisabeth Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) made a pair of free throws with 3:10 left in the fourth frame.
STATS OF THE GAME:
The Monks scored 33 points off 26 Charger turnovers…after missing 10 straight attempts from downtown to start the game, the Monks made 13-of-21 (61.9%) three-point bids during the remainder of the contest.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Talon led all players with 18 points and added five rebounds and three assists in the triumph
- Nina Howe nearly posted a triple-double with 12 points, eight assists, and eight steals while pulling down four rebounds
- Anderson added nine points, two steals, and a pair of caroms
- Hurley chipped in with eight points, seven boards, and five assists
- Senior forward Jayne Howe (Pembroke, Mass.) posted eight points and nine rebounds with a pair of steals
- Stapelfeld contributed seven points, two assists, and two steals
- Sophomore Kassidy Collins (Gardiner, Maine) pulled down five rebounds and grabbed a steal in five minutes off the bench
- Senior guard Emily Parent (Oakland, Maine) paced the Chargers with 12 points and added three rebounds in the loss
- Sophomore guard Courtney Brewster (Castleton, Vt.) fell two points shy of a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds
- Sophomore Natalie Panagrosso (Wallingford, Conn.) grabbed six boards and scored four points
With the victory Saint Joseph's improves to 8-1 in the history of the series with Colby-Sawyer College and has now defeated the Chargers in seven-consecutive meetings dating back to the 1983-84 campaign.
Original source can be found here
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