STANDISH, ME - #3 Saint Joseph's (16-10) defeated #6 Johnson & Wales University (12-14), 59-45, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament quarterfinal game on Tuesday night. Freshman center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) registered her conference-leading 11th double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 caroms and added five blocked shots in the victory.
With the triumph, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Tournament semifinal round for the third-consecutive season and will play at #2 Suffolk University, which topped #7 Emerson College, 62-54, in other quarterfinal action tonight, on Thursday evening (tip-off TBD). For Johnson & Wales, the loss signals the end of the 2012-13 campaign.
An evenly-matched first half featured nine lead changes and five tie scores as the Monks and Wildcats locked heads in what looked to be a see-saw battle throughout. Neither team held more than a four-point cushion in the opening stanza as Saint Joseph's carried a 29-25 advantage into intermission.
Junior forward Lindsay Moore (Barrington, N.H.) led all first-half scorers with eight points while senior guard Ayla Walter (Mount Pleasant, N.C.) paced the Wildcats with seven points in the first period.
The second stanza began with the Monks posting an 8-2 run, with Cahill accounting for all the SJC offense, and held a double-digit lead (37-27) for the first time when the rookie converted a layup with 15:34 left in the latter half. JWU senior guard Marina Milian (Monroe, N.Y.) connected on a layup of her own over three minutes later to cut her team's deficit down to nine (39-30), but Cahill answered with another bucket at the 10:32 mark and the hosts went on to lead by at least 10 points for the remainder of the contest.
The Monks proceeded to claim a game-high 16-point lead (47-31) when senior forward Alyssa Grigware (Biddeford, Maine) hit a layup with 7:42 on the game clock.
The Wildcats did not stray too far from the lead and attempted to make it a game late, but the hosts iced the contest with a 9-10 effort from the free throw line during the final two minutes of play. Senior guard Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, Vt.) made all eight of her freebie bids during this stretch.
For the Monks, Moore recorded a double-double of her own with 10 points and a game-high 15 caroms, Shufelt netted 12 with a perfect 12-12 free-throw shooting performance, and sophomore guard Sarah Assante (Standish, Maine) left the bench to contribute five points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
For the Wildcats, Walter tallied nine points and eight boards, senior guard Chrissy Toth (Queens, N.Y.) added nine points and five rebounds, Milian contributed eight points and four caroms and junior forward Justine Hughes (New York, N.Y.) came off the bench to post eight points and four boards.
Overall, Saint Joseph's shot 38.9% (21-54) from the floor and 60.7% (17-28) from the line while missing all four attempts from downtown. Johnson & Wales shot 23.6% (17-72) from the field, 14.3% (2-14) from three-point land, and 64.3% (9-14) from the charity stripe on the evening.
With the triumph, Saint Joseph's improves to 4-3 in the history of the series with Johnson & Wales University and has now topped the Wildcats in four straight meetings, including a 71-61 triumph earlier this season (1/21/12).
In other GNAC Tournament action, #1 Emmanuel College toppled #8 University of Saint Joseph, 74-60, and fifth-seeded Albertus Magnus College upset #4 Rivier University, 75-67. The other conference semifinal on Thursday pits #5 Albertus Magnus against top-seeded Emmanuel.
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.
