STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (8-9, 1-3 GNAC) and Emmanuel College (9-6, 3-0), the 2008 GNAC Champs, exchanged leads 20 times on Monday afternoon at the Alfond Center, but the Saints finished the game on top, 89-82. Carolyn Freeman '10 (Scarborough, ME/McAuley) recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 boards in the loss. Saints guard Iman Davis ‘10 (Toms River, NJ) poured in a game-high 39 points and went 15-19 from the free-throw line in the contest.

Neither team held more than a three point advantage until Breanna Ockimey ‘12 (Philadelphia, PA) sank a pair of free throws to give the Saints a 20-16 lead 7:45 into the contest. The freebies were part of a 12-2 run that saw Emmanuel earn a 27-18 with 11 minutes remaining in the half.

The Lady Monks proved to be resilient, however, and managed to outscore the Saints by a 13-3 margin in the subsequent four minutes with the help of three pointers from Kayla Boston ‘11 (North Berwick, ME) and Megan McDevitt ‘12 (Cumberland, ME). Freeman capped the run with a layup to put her team up, 31-30, with 7:27 to go before intermission.

McDevitt drilled another shot from downtown on the next SJC possession to put the Royal Blue up by four, but Emmanuel responded with a 9-0 surge to regain the lead, 39-34, with 3:31 left in the half. Three Saints players combined to go 6-6 from the charity stripe during the outburst.

In the waning minutes of the stanza, Kayla Nowell ‘11 (Bridgton, ME) made two baskets and Ashley Geel ‘12 (St. George, ME) hit a jumper to keep it a one-possession game, as Emmanuel led 43-40 going into halftime.

Saint Joseph's gained momentum out of the locker room by posting an 11-1 run to start the second half. The surge began with a trey from Freeman and ended with a pair of free throws from Meghan Daigle ‘10 (Grantham, NH) as the Lady Monks had taken a 51-44 lead with 16:58 to play.

The visitors refused to go down easily and countered with yet another outburst, outscoring Saint Joseph's 13-2 in the following three minutes to take a 57-53 lead. Davis and Kristen LeBel ‘11 (Tolland, CT) combined to score 11 points for the Saints during the run.

Freeman sank a shot from beyond the arc to knot the game at 57-apiece with 12:11 to play, but Emmanuel went on to maintain a lead of no more than five points for the following eight minutes. Allison Miner ‘10 (Pembroke, NH) took a pass from Casey Drake ‘11 (Lebanon, NH) and converted a layup to give her team a 74-73 lead with 4:03 to play and the teams swapped leads seven times in the next two minutes.

The Saints, who made 33 of 39 free-throw attempts in the contest, sank 10 of 11 shots from the charity stripe in the final two minutes en route to an 89-82 victory.

For St. Joe's, Daigle was one carom shy of posting a double-double with 16 points and nine caroms and, with a 4-4 effort from the charity stripe, has made 26 straight free throws spanning 3 1/2 games. Geel added 15 points and five boards, Drake tallied five points and seven assists and Miner chipped in with eight points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

With the 21-point output, Freeman became the 27th player in St. Joe's women's basketball history to reach the 800-point plateau. The junior has 802 points in 68 career games (11.8 PPG).

LeBel scored 21 points for the Saints and Karin Bird ‘12 (Lee, ME) netted 16 points and four assists. Davis made 15 of 19 free-throw attempts and grabbed eight boards in the contest.

Saint Joseph's will host GNAC opponent Albertus Magnus College on Saturday, January 24th at 1:00 PM while the Saints will host conference counterpart Suffolk University on Wednesday, January 21st at 7:30 PM.


Newspaper Box Score
Emmanuel College vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
01/19/09 1:00 PM at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
EMMANUEL COLLEGE 89, ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 82
EMMANUEL COLLEGE (9-6, 3-0 GNAC)
Iman Davis 11-18 15-19 39; Kristin LeBel 7-14 6-6 21; Karin Bird 5-6 4-5 16;
Breanna Ockimey 1-3 4-4 7; Katasi Kulubya 0-2 2-2 2; Liz Brooks 1-2 0-0 2;
Abby Brenkach 0-1 2-2 2; Jasmine Jean Jacques 0-0 0-0 0; Erin Stilphen 0-0
0-0 0; Casey Shevlin 0-1 0-1 0; Jenna Ross 0-0 0-0 0; Jade Santos 0-0 0-0 0;
Tierra Ellis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-48 33-39 89.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (8-9, 1-3 GNAC)
Carolyn Freeman 9-21 0-0 21; Meghan Daigle 6-14 4-4 16; Ashley Geel 4-8 6-9
15; Allison Miner 3-5 2-3 8; Megan McDevitt 2-4 0-0 6; Casey Drake 2-3 0-0
5; Kayla Boston 1-3 2-2 5; Kayla Nowell 2-4 0-1 4; Alysn Ludwig 1-5 0-0 2.
Totals 30-67 14-19 82.
Emmanuel College.............. 43 46 - 89
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 40 42 - 82
3-point goals--Emmanuel College 6-13 (Karin Bird 2-3; Iman Davis 2-3;
Breanna Ockimey 1-2; Kristin LeBel 1-5), St. Joseph's (Me.) 8-21 (Carolyn
Freeman 3-10; Megan McDevitt 2-4; Ashley Geel 1-3; Casey Drake 1-2; Kayla
Boston 1-1; Alysn Ludwig 0-1). Fouled out--Emmanuel College-None, St.
Joseph's (Me.)-None. Rebounds--Emmanuel College 28 (Iman Davis 8), St.
Joseph's (Me.) 38 (Carolyn Freeman 10). Assists--Emmanuel College 19 (Casey
Shevlin 4; Karin Bird 4), St. Joseph's (Me.) 26 (Casey Drake 7; Allison
Miner 7). Total fouls--Emmanuel College 19, St. Joseph's (Me.) 22. Technical
fouls--Emmanuel College-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. A-180