FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monks Fall to Bombers in NCAA Second Round, 74-63
ITHACA, N.Y. – Ithaca College (24-5) defeated #12/14 Saint Joseph's College (28-2), 74-63, in the second round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament on Saturday evening.
With the victory, Ithaca moves on to the third round of the national tourney for the first time since 2014 and fourth time in program history. The Bombers will play DeSales, which defeated Middlebury in other second-round action tonight, in a 'Sweet 16' matchup next Friday.
The loss signals the end of collegiate basketball for the Monks' four seniors: Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.), Julia Champagne(Brunswick, Maine), Hannah Marks (Waldoboro, Maine), and Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.). With the 2019 class on the court, St. Joe's posted a 103-15 (.873) overall record – the most victories by a senior class in program history - with a 53-2 (.964) mark in conference play, three GNAC Championships, and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
In the first half, the Bombers posted several scoring runs to put the game out of reach.
With the game tied 11-11 with 3:09 left in the first quarter, registered a 12-0 run and held a 23-13 cushion heading into the second frame.
The Monks managed to cut the deficit down to four points (25-21) after junior guard Julia Quinn (Fryeburg, Maine) hit a three-pointer with 6:32 before the break, but Ithaca outscored Saint Joseph's by a 25-8 margin leading up to halftime and carried a 50-29 lead into intermission.
The Bombers led 61-40 with 2:35 to play in the third period, but the Royal Blue ended the penultimate quarter with a 9-2 surge and trailed by 14 (63-49) after McNamara drilled a three-pointer as time expired.
The Monks continued to chip away and cut their deficit down to single digits after Champagne connected on a jumper to make it a 65-56 game with 5:41 remaining, but Ithaca put up five unanswered points during a 40-second span to effectively end the comeback hopes for St. Joe's.
Saint Joseph's outscored Ithaca by a 34-24 margin in the final two quarters combined.
STATS OF THE GAME:
The Bombers held sizeable advantages in points in the paint (28-16) and bench points (35-11).
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- McNamara netted 30 points with four rebounds and was 9-for-10 from the FT line
- Champagne added 13 points with seven boards and was also 9-for-10 from the stripe
- Quinn came off the bench to score nine points
- Benway added five points and seven caroms
LEADERS – ITHACA:
- Senior guard Annie Giannone (Auburn, N.Y.) tallied 22 points, nine assists, and five rebounds
- Junior guard KellyAnne O'Reilly (Montville, N.J.) came off the bench to net 19 points with five boards and was 5-for-7 from three-point distance
- Junior forward Cassidy O'Malley (Summit, N.J.) chipped in with 21 points and four blocked shots
Courtesy of SJC Athletics Communications.
No. 25 SUNT New Paltz Sinks Saints in NCAA Second Round, 80-49
THE LEAD: Senior guard Lindsey Bettke (Pelham, N.Y.) and junior guard Marion Dietz (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) combined for 49 points to power #25 SUNY New Paltz past Emmanuel College in Second Round action of the 2019 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament at the Hawk Center. Emmanuel's season closes with a 24-6 record, while SUNY New Paltz marches on and improves to 25-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Hawks came out with the hot hand, connecting on three triples in the opening five minutes of play to race out to the early 11-6 lead and carried a 20-13 advantage into the second quarter led by 10 points in the frame from Dietz.
- New Paltz opened the second quarter with a quick 7-2 flurry capped with a three by Bettke to force Emmanuel to take a timeout with 8:13 left to play in the half trailing 27-15.
- Bettke connected on triples on the next two offensive sets for the Hawks to add to the hosts lead, making it 33-17 before Dietz added another trey to bump the lead to 36-17.
- With two minutes remaining in the half, Bettke hit a deep three on the wing in transition to give the Hawks a 20 point advantage at 43-23 before senior guard Taylor Howell (Baldwin, N.Y.) closed the half with five straight to account for a 48-23 halftime score.
- Bettke led all scorers at the break with 18 point on 7-of-11 shooting including 4-for-5 from downtown.
- Emmanuel needed a second half surge to get back into the game but a strong defensive front thwarted any chance of a comeback as the Hawks outscored the Saints 17-11 in the third quarter to take a 65-35 lead into the final frame.
- The Saints could not overcome the large deficit in the final quarter as SUNY New Paltz cruised to the 80-49 victory to advance to the Sweet 16.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- EC junior guard Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass.) led Emmanuel with
- The Hawks ended the night with 14 three pointers, the most they've had in a game since January 19 when they connected on 17 triples in a win over Buffalo State.
- SUNY New Paltz won the battle of the boards as well, outrebounding the Saints by a 42-35 margin in the action.
- Bettke, the 2019 SUNYAC Player of the Year, finished with a game-high 29 points while Dietz added 23 points as the pair combined for nine three pointers.
OF NOTE
- Ramirez-Tejeda ends her junior campaign with 626 points and 328 for the Saints, both single-season Emmanuel records.
- The -18 point difference in the second quarter (28-10, SUNY) tied the largest quarter differential for the Saints all season (30-12, Amherst 11/27/18).
- The 31 point loss was the largest defeat of the year for the Saints.
- The 24 wins for the Saints marks the most victories since the 2011-12 campaign when the team finished 25-7 and advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA tourney.
SENIOR FAREWALL
- The Saints bid farewell to seniors Madison McLaughlin (Westerly, R.I.) and Mary McCarthy (Scituate, Mass.) who played their last contest for the Saints this evening. Over their careers, Emmanuel posted an overall record of 85-27 (.759) and captured its first GNAC Championship since the 2013 season. McLaughlin graduates with the program record for career three pointers while McCarthy ranks in the top five all-time for career blocked shots.
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 –