NEWTON, MA – Saint Joseph's College (20-5, 10-1 GNAC) edged Lasell College (12-13, 5-6 GNAC), 60-56, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's basketball regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's reaches the 20-win plateau for the 16th time in program history and clinches the #2 seed in the 2014 GNAC Tournament, which begins with a quarterfinal round on Tuesday. The Monks will host seventh-seeded Lasell in a conference quarterfinal at 5:30 PM on Tuesday.
Senior forward Abby Young (North Yarmouth, Maine) made history in the victory by becoming the 21st player in team history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. With 982 career points entering today's contest, Young ended the game with a team-high 18 points and hit the mark on the nose when she scored a layup off an Abbie Eastman (Norway, Maine) assist with 9:01 remaining.
Young also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and blocked four shots in the victory while sophomore center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) tallied 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks and Mackenzie Dufour (Augusta, Maine) added nine points, four boards and a pair of assists on the afternoon. Freshman guard Danica Gleason (South Portland, Maine) scored nine points, Eastman chipped in with five points and five rebounds, and Theresa Hendrix (Scarborough, Maine/Cheverus) contributed six rebounds and three steals in the triumph.
For the Lasers, Molly Lauver (Cambridge, N.Y.) scored a game-high 21 points with six rebounds and five assists on 8-12 shooting including 5-8 from three point territory. Alexis Chappell (Springfield, Mass.) was the only other Lasers player in double figures with 14 points, while Danielle Autencio (Montville, Conn.) finished with six points and a team-high nine rebounds. Kayla Vincelette (Westport, Mass.) added nine points with a pair of blocked shots in her final regular season home game.
The two teams traded baskets in the early going, as Chappell scored nine in the opening minutes for Lasell and Cahill opened with seven for St. Joe's with Lasell taking a 17-15 lead with 11 minutes gone in the first half. The hosts went on a 12-2 run to open up a 29-17 lead behind a pair of three pointers from Lauver with just under three minutes left in the half. The Monks closed the half with a 9-2 run of their own with Young accounting for five of those markers as Lasell held a 31-26 edge at intermission.
Saint Joseph's chipped away at the Lasell lead, trimming the lead to 43-39 with 12:28 left in the game. A layup from Young cut the margin to 48-45 before Vincelette scored on a twisting finish in the paint and knocked down a pair from the free throw stripe to give Lasell a 52-45 lead with just under seven minutes to play.
The Monks then used an elbow jumper from Cahill and back-to-back three pointers from Gleason and Dufour to take a 53-52 lead with five minutes left, setting the stage for a down to the wire finish. Saint Joseph's used a Cahill layup to go in front 55-52, but Lasell came right back with jumpers by Autencio and Lauver to go back in front 56-55 with less than three minutes to play. A Cahill jumper gave the visitors the lead right back with a jumper, making it 57-56 and a free throw by Dufour gave St. Joe's a two point lead with 14 seconds to play. Cahill blocked a baseline three-pointer attempt by Lauver in the closing seconds, and Dufour iced the game with two more free throws.
COURTESY OF LASELL COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
GAME NOTES:
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 9-1 all-time versus Lasell College…the Monks have now defeated the Lasers in eight-consecutive meetings dating back to the 2005-06 season…Young has scored 1,000 points with 516 rebounds over 101 career contests…Young is just the third women's basketball player to reach the plateau since Abbie Rice '04 hit the mark during the 2003-04 campaign…she also surpassed the 100-block milestone in the victory and now has 101 rejections in her career…she currently ranks fifth in team history in blocks…Saint Joseph's tallied a season-high nine blocked shots in today's win…with the #2 seed, the Monks will host a GNAC Tournament contest for the fourth-consecutive season…Saint Joseph's is 3-0 in quarterfinal contests played at the Alfond Center.
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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 430-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.
