FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Third-seeded Emmanuel College went on the road to take down second-seeded Johnson & Wales University, 71-61, while top-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine handled fourth-seeded Suffolk University, 74-58, in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Basketball Tournament Semifinals on Thursday night.
Emmanuel will now get set to travel to Saint Joseph's in Standish, Maine for Saturday's GNAC Championship at 2:00 PM. Fans can watch the game live at thegnac.tv.
Johnson & Wales, which claimed last year's GNAC title game over the Saints, was ranked fifth in the final edition of the Division III Northeast Regional Rankings. Emmanuel and Saint Joseph's were ranked ninth and 11th, respectively, in the same regional rankings.
#3 EMMANUEL 71, #2 JWU 61
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Emmanuel (21-6) avenged last year's championship game loss with a 71-61 victory over Johnson & Wales (24-3) in the GNAC semifinals on Thursday night at the Wildcat Center.
The Lead:
After seeing a 10 point, third quarter lead evaporate after Ashley Thompson (Bellingham, Mass.) jumper at the 4:44 mark of the fourth quarter, the Saints outscored JWU, 17-6 down the stretch to earn a second consecutive berth in the GNAC title game.
Of Note:
Neither team shot particularly well from the field, with the charity stripe being the biggest difference in the game. Emmanuel was 21-27 from the line, compared to 8-13 by the Wildcats.
Johnson & Wales closed the first quarter on a 7-0 run to take an 18-13 lead after the first 10 minutes. However, the Saints responded with a 13-3 run of their own to start the second quarter. JWU would only make on basket in the first five minutes of the second stanza. The Wildcats pulled to within five, 34-29, on a Savannah Kresge (Ellington, Conn.) three-pointer, but the visitors stretched the lead to 40-31 going into the locker room.
Kresge topped the Wildcats with 14 points and was 4-of-7 from three point range. The only other Wildcat in double figures was Thompson, as she tossed in 12 points, along with six rebounds. Forward Kimberly Viafara (Woodside, NY) just missed a double-double withseven points and 10 rebounds.
Topping all scorers with 22 points was Emmanuel graduate student Lena Negri(Arlington, Va.) to go along with 11 rebounds for the double-double. She hit a jumper at the 1:37 mark of the fourth quarter to put EC ahead for good and it was also the 1,000th point of her illustrious career. Senior Sarah Higgins(Groveland, Mass.) also had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Alexis Ezell (Acworth, Ga.) was tremendous off the bench, scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds, while going 6-6 from the free throw line.
#1 SAINT JOSEPH'S 74, #4 SUFFOLK 58
STANDISH, Maine – M
Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (22-5) defeated #4 Suffolk University (17-10), 74-58, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Semifinal at the Harold Alfond Center on Thursday night.
THE LEAD
With a trip to the GNAC Championship, and a chance at claiming the GNAC's NCAA DIII Tournament automatic qualifier, on the line, the conference counterparts played through four tie scores and seven lead changes in the first two quarters.
Neither team held a lead greater than three points until the Monks broke a 20-20 deadlock a 13-4 run, which began with a Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) three-pointer at the 5:08 mark of the second stanza and capped, a little over three minutes later, with a Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) layup, staking the hosts to a 33-24 advantage heading into intermission.
St. Joe's claimed the first double-digit lead of the night (35-24) when freshman forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) netted a pair of free throws 1:37 into the third quarter. The Monks proceeded to lead by at least 10 points for the remainder of play and held a game-high 18-point (56-38) cushion when senior center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) hit a jumper with 7:03 left in the fourth.
With three seniors – Chelsea Campellone (Fall River, Mass.), Alessandra Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.), and Katie Murray (Holden, Mass.) - in the fold, the Rams showed plenty of fight in the closing minutes. Trailing by 18, Suffolk managed to make things interesting with a 16-8 burst, cutting the Monks' lead down to 10 (64-54) with 2:19 left, but Saint Joseph's managed to stem the tide by sinking all 10 free-throw attempts in the final two minutes.
PLAYOFFS?
With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Championship for the third time in the last five seasons and will host #3 Emmanuel College in the title game at 2:00 PM on Saturday. Emmanuel defeated #2 Johnson & Wales University, 71-61, in the other side of the tourney bracket earlier this evening.
For the Rams, tonight's loss likely signals the end, outside of an ECAC Tournament berth, of the 2015-16 campaign.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S
- Cahill led all scorers with 18 points and added six rebounds and three blocked shots
- McNamara netted 14 with five assists
- Benway contributed 12 points and six boards
- Freshman guard Hannah Marks (Waldoboro, Maine) scored eight points off the bench
- Champagne added six points, five caroms, and three assists
LEADERS – SUFFOLK
- Junior guard Kelsey Schiebel (Windham, N.H.) registered 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists
- Junior forward Alexandra Clarke (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) chipped in with 12 points, nine boards, and three rejections
- Junior guard Georgia Bourikas (Hull, Mass.) came off the bench to score 11 points with four rebounds and a pair of assists
TEAM STATS
Saint Joseph's shot 41% (25-61) from the floor, 27.8% (5-18) from three-point range, and 70.4% (19-27) from the free throw line. Suffolk countered by shooting 35.6% (21-59) overall, 22.2% (4-18) from beyond the arc, and 75% (12-16) from the charity stripe.
Saint Joseph's maintained the advantage in rebounds (40-36), assists (17-14), turnovers (9-13), second-chance points (17-10), points in the paint (24-20), and bench points (26-16) in the victory. Suffolk posted an 11-9 edge in points off turnovers in the losing bid.
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
Saint Joseph's is now 8-8 all-time versus Suffolk University and, with tonight's win, avenges a pair of GNAC Tournament Semifinal setbacks at the hands of the Rams, who cut the Monks' season short in second round of the conference tourney in 2011 and 2013.
Quarterfinals - Tuesday, February 23 | RECAP
Game 1: #1 Saint Joseph's Maine 72, #8 Rivier 62 | BOX
Game 2: #4 Suffolk 55, #5 Norwich 51 | BOX
Game 3: #3 Emmanuel 73, #6 Albertus Magnus 63 | BOX
Game 4: #2 Johnson & Wales 76, #7 Lasell 57 | BOX
Semifinals - Thursday, February 25
Game 5: #1 Saint Joseph's Maine 74, #4 Suffolk 58 | BOX
Game 6: #3 Emmanuel 71, #2 Johnson & Wales 61 | BOX
Championship - Saturday, February 27
Game 7: #3 Emmanuel at #1 Saint Joseph's Maine - 2:00 PM
– #TheGNAC –