Junior Jennifer Ruys (Wallingford, Conn.) netted 22 points to lift the Suffolk University Women's Basketball team to a 68-65 victory over the University of Saint Joseph Blue Jays in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action on Saturday afternoon at the Regan Gymnasium.

Four players finished in double digits in scoring for the Rams as both teams opened up their conference slate for the 2012-13 season. The win improves the Rams to a 9-4 overall, while the Blue Jays drop to a 7-3 mark.

Junior Devon Diliberto (Waterbury, Conn.) scored 22 points for the visitors with an 8-for-9 effort from the free throw line to pace Saint Joseph.

Suffolk limited the Blue Jays to just two points in the opening ten minutes of the second half as they opened the period with a 14-2 run to regain a 50-43 lead after trailing by five at the break. Sophomore Iliana Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.) would score 12 of her game's 18 points in the second half to lead the Rams' offense in the period.

Ruys would give the Rams a seven-point lead at 50-43 at the 10:19 mark in the second half as she put in a lay-up down low. The Blue Jays would answer with a 7-0 run of their own to even the game back up over the next two minutes highlighted by a field-goal and consecutive free throws on their next possesion by junior Mary Hyde (Derby, Conn.).

Both teams would go back and forth over the remainder of the half before sophomore Tori Brillaud (North Andover, Mass.) took a feed in the paint by senior Jacqueline Vienneau (Salem, N.H.) to put the Rams up five with three minutes remaining. On their next possesion Ruys would score once again to make it a 65-58 game with two and half minutes remaining in regulation.

Diliberto would get it back to a two possesion game as she connected on a layup down low and converted her bonus shot on the ensuing foul.

With fouls to give the Blue Jays would put Quadri at the free-throw line for Suffolk as the sophomore guard would connect on one of her two shots from the charity stripe. Some defensive confusion on the part of the Rams on the next visitors' possesion would send Hyde to the line for the Blue Jays as she would convert on both of her free throws to make it a one possesion game with twelve seconds remaining, but Suffolk would let them get no closer from there.

Ruys scored 14 of her game's 22 points in the first half as the Rams trailed 41-36 heading into the break.

Hyde opened the scoring for the Blue Jays' scoring the team's first five points of the contest in the opening  minutes. The Rams would then go on an 11-0 run to build an eight-point lead, but it was sharp shooting from the Blue Jays who would go 7-for-10 from three-point land as a team in the first half that helped them build the early lead. Diliberto (11 points) and Hyde (10 points) would each go 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first half, while sophomore Lindsay Feducia (Beacon Falls, Conn.) was a perfect 2-for-2 to add 11 points over the opening twenty minutes of play.

Vienneau finished the game tying a career-high with nine assists bringing her four-year total to 385, nine shy of the program mark set by Amber Conte (1998-2002). Vienneau added 13 points and six boards for the Rams.

Sophomore Shelby Santini (Winchester, Mass.) finished the game with 11 points rounding out the scoring for the Rams.

Hyde finished the game with a double-double for the Blue Jays as she led all rebounders with 14 in the game while scoring 16 points. Feducia finished the game with 14 points, while sophomore Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) added eight points and seven rebounds.

Both teams will be back in GNAC action on Tuesday evening. The Blue Jays will play host to the Lasell College Lasers at 7:00pm. Suffolk will travel to New Haven to take on the Albertus Magnus Falcons at 5:00pm.