NEWTON, MA – Saint Joseph's (7-5, 1-0 GNAC) toppled Lasell College (0-11, 0-1 GNAC), 67-29, in what was the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener for both teams on Tuesday evening. Senior guard Megan McDevitt (Cumberland, Maine) led all scorers with 17 points in the one-sided conference contest.
Both teams posted paltry shooting efforts in the opening half, as the Lasers shot 18.2% and the Monks countered with a 19.4% effort in the opening 20 minutes. The SJC shooters emerged from their funk in the second stanza as the visitors netted 52.2% of their shots in the closing half. Lasell did not help its cause by shooting only 15.4% from the field in the second half and made only eight field goals – four in each half – on the night.
The first four minutes of play saw the Monks miss all eight shots as the Lasers held a 4-0 advantage at the 15:54 mark. St. Joe's responded with five straight points off two freebies from Lindsay Moore '14 (Barrington, N.H.) and a three-pointer from Abby Young '14 (North Yarmouth, Maine) over the following 36 seconds and the contest stood at a 5-5 stalemate after Lasell's Alexis Chappell made a free throw with 13:52 remaining in the first half.
With the help of a 9-10 effort from the charity stripe, Saint Joseph's proceeded to mount a game-changing 19-0 outburst and held 24-5 cushion after Sarah Assante '15 (Standish, Maine) connected on a pair of freebies at the 4:38 mark.
The Lasers outscored the Monks by an 8-4 margin in the closing minutes of the first half and trailed 28-13 heading into intermission. St. Joe's shot 19.4% from the field, 25% from three-point range, and 92.9% from the FT line in the opening half. Lasell countered by shooting 18.2% from the floor and 83.3% from the stripe while missing all three shots from downtown in the first 20 minutes of play.
McDevitt netted seven points and Young connected for six for the Monks, while Chappell registered five points for the Lasers in the first half.
Lasell's modest gains in the closing minutes of the first half were quickly erased in the second stanza as St. Joe's started the latter half with 16 unanswered points and held a daunting 33-point cushion (47-14) when Danyelle Shufelt '13 (Sutton, Vt.) nailed a trifecta at the 13:44 mark.
It would get no better for the Lasers as the host's final points of the night would come when Justine Ryan made a pair of free throws to cut the Lasell deficit to 58-29 with 4:31 left. Saint Joseph's capped the contest with nine straight points en route to the 38-point victory.
For the Monks, Shufelt netted 12 points, Moore added eight points and eight boards, Young posted eight points, and Assante chipped in with six points, three assists, and two steals. Allie Parent '12 (Camden, Maine) recorded five rebounds, four steals, and three assists and McDevitt added seven caroms to her stat line.
For the Lasers, Ryan came off the bench to tally a team-high 11 points while Chappell and Kim Archibald both netted five points in the loss.
Overall, Saint Joseph's shot 33.3% (18-54) from the floor, 36.4% (8-22) from three-point distance, and 74.2% (23-31) from the FT while Lasell shot 16.7% (8-48) from the field, 33.3% (3-9) from downtown, and 83.3% (10-12) from the charity stripe.
St. Joe's held commanding advantages in rebounds (43-31), assists (13-2), points off turnovers (28-8), and bench points (38-4) while winning the turnover battle (13-25) versus Lasell.
Saint Joseph's, which defeated University of Maine-Fort Kent, 95-54, on Saturday, has now cruised to victory in back to back contests with the wins coming by a combined total of 79 points, the most in back to back wins since the Royal Blue defeated University of Maine-Presque Isle (93-44) and Fort Kent (97-43) by a total of 103 points early in January of 2001.
With the win, St. Joe's improves to 7-1 in the history of the series with Lasell College.
The Monks will host GNAC-rival Norwich University (6-7, 1-1 GNAC) at 1:00 PM on Saturday.