BRIDGEWATER, MA – Bridgewater State University (18-3, 8-1 MASCAC) defeated Saint Joseph's College (12-10, 6-3 GNAC), 74-63, in a non-conference women's basketball contest on Tuesday evening.
Freshman center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) paced the visiting Monks with a game-high 20 points on 9 of 11 shooting. Cahill also finished with six rebounds, a game-high five blocks and four steals. Junior forward Abby Young (North Yarmouth, Maine) added 12 points and seven boards.
Junior guard Jenna Williamson (Ludlow, Mass.) led the Bears with 19 points off a 6-10 effort from the floor, including a 3-5 bid from three-point range, and senior guard Michaela Cosby (Walpole, Mass.) tallied 18 points, five boards, three assists and four steals in the victory.
BSU junior forward Megan Boutilette (Charlton, Mass.) filled the stat sheet with ten points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and four steals, while junior guard Colleen Hanscom (Melrose, Mass.) chipped in with ten points, five boards and four assists.
Bridgewater was up by as many as 11 points in the first half and held a 35-28 advantage at the intermission. Williamson scored 12 of her 19 points in the opening stanza while Cosby notched ten first-half points. Cahill led the Monks at the break with 12 points.
BSU's lead ballooned again to 11 points early in the second half and the Bears were up by nine (51-42) with14:51 remaining. A 9-0 run by the Monks, however, quickly erased the deficit. Young scored five points during the run and Theresa Hendrix () capped it off with a jumper to knot the score at 51-51. Saint Joseph's would take their first lead (57-56) since the since the opening minutes of the game on a Lindsay Moore layup with 8:07 left on the clock.
The Bears would turn the momentum of the game as they answered with a 9-0 run of their own capped off by a Williamson trifecta to take a 65-57 lead. Saint Joseph's would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as the Monks scored just six points and turned the ball over six times in the final five minutes.
The Bears shot 43% (26-60) from the floor and converted 18 of 21 (86%) free throw attempts. Aside from Williamson's solid three-point shooting, the rest of the team was just 1-for-8 from behind the arc. The Bears recorded 18 steals in the game and forced 26 turnovers.
The Monks connected on 42% (25-59) of their field goal attempts and were 12-for-13 (92%) from the charity stripe, but finished just 1-for-10 from three-point range.
Both teams are back in action with conference contests on Saturday afternoon, when Saint Joseph's plays at Albertus Magnus College at 1:00 PM and Bridgewater State travels to Worcester State University for a 3:30 PM tip-off.
COURTESY OF BRIDGEWATER STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.