BOSTON – The Suffolk women's basketball team was outscored, 19-2, in the second stanza and the Rams could not fully recover, as the Monks held off multiple comeback attempts to edge the blue-and-gold, 66-59, Saturday afternoon inside Regan Gymnasium.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 59, St. Joseph's (Maine) 66
RECORDS: Suffolk (15-7, 10-3 GNAC) | St. Joseph's (Maine) (18-3, 12-0 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk stormed off the tip and quickly built a 7-2 advantage that forced a St. Joseph's timeout. Out of the break, the Monks never gained momentum and the Rams went on to take a 18-10 lead after the first 10 minutes.
The second stanza was a completely different story as SJC commanded the entire 10 minutes, outscoring the Rams, 19-2, including a 15-0 run to end the quarter, sending Suffolk to the intermission trailing, 29-20.
The Ram had a lot of ground to make up and Alexandra Nagri got things started with four answered hoops. The Monks quieted the rally, however, with a layup combined with a long ball from Regan McFerran to gain their first double figure lead, 34-24, of the afternoon less than three minutes into the third.
Suffolk's comeback was halted on multiple occasions as SJC had a response for every Rams hoop. Down the stretch of the third, Caitlyn Caramello put together seven unanswered points to make it a seven-point game, 44-37, but the Monks retook a nine-point lead into the final frame.
Similar to the third quarter, Suffolk's rallies were also cut off with Monks' baskets. Trailing by nine, 59-50, Nagri sandwich two shots from downtown and Kelsey Schiebel followed with one of her own to put the Rams within seven, 63-56, with 26 seconds to play. SJC took advantage to their trips to the free throw line, however, and held on for the 66-59 victory.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Schiebel led the offense with 13 points and set up five other hoops.
- Georgia Bourikas contributed 12 points, going a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
- Nagri added 11 points, shooting 4-for-7 from the field and 2-for-5 from deep, with both treys coming in the final four minutes of action. She also chipped in four assists, one steal and one board to her stat line.
- Off the bench, Caramello rounded out the Rams in double figures with 11 of her own, off a 4-for-6 performance from the field. The forward also chipped in five boards, two steals and one handout.
- Katelyn Rourke and Alexandra Clarke paced the pack defensively, both grabbing nine boards and tallying four points.
- SJC held a slim advantage on the glass, 44-43.
- Suffolk struggled from the floor, going just 35.2 percent (19-54), along with a 31.3 connection rate (5-16) from three-point range and 59.3 percent (16-27) from the foul line.
- The Saints went 34.3 percent (23-67) from the field, 30.0 percent (6-20) and 66.7 percent (14-21) from the free throw line.
NOTEWORTHY
- Four different Rams recorded double figures in the setback.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk heads out on the road Tuesday, Feb. 7 for a 7 p.m. tip-off at Albertus Magnus.