FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INTERACTIVE BRACKET

Saturday: SJC/Ithaca at 5:00 PM;
Emmanuel/SUNY New Paltz at 6:00 PM

Saint Joseph's Tops NEWMAC's MIT, 68-61, Advances to NCAA Second Round 

ITHACA, N.Y. – Senior guard Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) netted 24 points to lead #12/14 Saint Joseph's College (28-1) past MIT (21-8), 68-61, in the first round of the NCAA DIII Women's Basketball Tournament at Ithaca College's Ben Light Gymnasium on Friday evening.

With the triumph, the Monks will advance to the second round of the national tourney for the second-consecutive season and will take Ithaca tomorrow at 5:00 PM after Ithaca defeated SUNY-Poly, 68-58 on Friday. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:
Saint Joseph's held a 20-10 lead after the first quarter, but the Engineers opened the second stanza with a 15-4 run, capped by a Kristen Ngan (Sudbury, Mass.) layup, to claim a 25-24 with 3:20 before the break.

Following a timeout, the Monks' offense came back to life and outscored the MIT five by a 10-4 margin in the minutes leading up to the half with a Champagne three-pointer lifting the Royal Blue to a 34-29 advantage at intermission.

St. Joe's shot 60% (9-15) from the field during the third quarter and held a game-high 13-point (53-40) lead after Champagne hit a runner with 3:26 to play in the penultimate period.

But the Engineers would not go down without a fight and managed to cut their deficit down to 55-54 after freshman guard Christina Antonakakis (Holmdel, N.J.) capped a 14-2 surge with a three-pointer at the 8:34 mark of the fourth frame.

The 55-54 score remained frozen on the scoreboard for over three minutes until junior guard Julia Quinn (Fryeburg, Maine) drilled a three-pointer with 5:27 remaining. The teams swapped scores for the subsequent three minutes as a Kara Holinski (Livonia, Mich.) layup made it a 62-60 game, in favor of the Monks, with 2:51 left.

As it played out, the Holinski basket would be the Engineers' last, as MIT went 0-7 from the field in the closing minutes, a span during which the Monks hit all six of their free-throw attempts to account for the 68-61 final.

STATS OF THE GAME:
Saint Joseph's held advantages in points in the paint (30-26), points off turnovers (20-16), and fast-break points (7-2) and outshot MIT by nearly 10 percentage points (44.6 – 34.9) in the victory.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Champagne was 8-for-12 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the FT line with 24 points, seven rebound and three assists
• Senior guard Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) tallied 19 points, five rebounds, six assists and six steals
• Senior forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) added 14 points and six rebounds and was 7-for-8 from the field
• Sophomore forward Jordan Jabar (Waterville, Maine) pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds

LEADERS – MIT:

• Ngan was 5-for-7 from the floor with 14 points, three boards, and two assists
• Sophomore forward Jocelyn Luizzi (Colchester, Conn.) came off the bench to register 12 points and eight rebounds
• Senior guard Dolly Yuan (San Jose, Calif.) added 12 points, five caroms, three assists, and a pair of steals

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 2-1 all-time versus MIT.

Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications.

Emmanuel Bests Hartwick to Advance in NCAA Tournament, 69-65

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – Emmanuel College erased an early nine-point deficit to come back to down Hartwick College, 69-65, Friday evening at the Hawk Center in the first rRound of the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament on the campus of SUNY New Paltz. Emmanuel improves to 24-5 overall and will be back in action on Saturday 6:00 PM against SUNY-New Paltz, after the host defeated Rutgers-Newark, 65-39, on Friday in the first round. Hartwick's season ends at 23-5. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hawks jumped out to a 26-20 lead after the first quarter of play behind a 13 point quarter from senior guard Caitlin Corbett (Altamont, N.Y)
• A 6-0 run to open the second quarter even the score at 26-all before freshman guard Molly deBettencourt (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) drained a three to give Emmanuel its first lead of the action at 29-28 with 7:29 left to play in the half.
• Hartwick responded immediately with a 6-0 flurry to retake a 34-29 lead but Emmanuel used a 10-2 run to close out the quarter and take a 39-36 lead into halftime capped with a fast break layup at the buzzer by deBettencourt.
• EC junior guard Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass.) led all players at the break with 16 points while Corbett was held scoreless in the second frame to pace the Hawks with the 13 at halftime.
• A triple by senior guard Carly Johnson (Greenville, N.Y.) tied the game early in the third at 41-41 before back-to-back layups by senior center Mary McCarthy (Scituate, Mass.) bumped Emmanuel ahead 47-43. EC would carry the four point cushion into the fourth leading 51-47 after three.
• A three on the wing by senior guard Madison McLaughlin (Westerly, R.I.) with 7:42 to play put the Saints ahead 58-51 for their largest lead of the night but the Hawks responded with six straight points to cut the deficit to one at 58-57 with 4:41 to play.
• Ramirez-Tejeda bumped the lead back to five with a transition layup with 2:26 to play to give the Saints a 62-57 cushion.
• Each team traded hoops to give the Saints a 64-59 cushion following a turnaround jumper in the paint by junior forward Caitlin Cipriano (Waterbury, Conn.) with 40 seconds to play.
• Emmanuel was good enough from the charity stripe down the stretch to hold on for a 69-65.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Ramirez-Tejeda led way with a game-high 25 points and team-high 13 rebounds for her 20th double-double of the season.
• McCarthy finished with a career-high 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the field.
• All five starters for the Hawks were in double-figures with Corbett leading the way with 13 points, all scored in the first quarter.
• Sophomore forward Kelly Pine (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with 11 points for a double-double.

OF NOTE

• Emmanuel held the Hawks to a 34.7% shooting percentage, their second-lowest of the season.
• EC had previously been 0-3 on the year when scoring exactly 69 points with losses to MIT (72-69), UMass Boston (80-69) and Saint Joseph's (ME) (79-69).
• The Saints advance to the Second Round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2012 season and the 11th time overall.

Courtesy of EC Athletics Communications.

The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience. 

– #TheGNAC –