STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (22-5) defeated #4 Suffolk University (17-10), 74-58, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Semifinal at the Harold Alfond Center on Thursday night.

THE LEAD

With a trip to the GNAC Championship, and a chance at claiming the GNAC's NCAA DIII Tournament automatic qualifier, on the line, the conference counterparts played through four tie scores and seven lead changes in the first two quarters.

Neither team held a lead greater than three points until the Monks broke a 20-20 deadlock a 13-4 run, which began with a Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) three-pointer at the 5:08 mark of the second stanza and capped, a little over three minutes later, with a Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) layup, staking the hosts to a 33-24 advantage heading into intermission.

St. Joe's claimed the first double-digit lead of the night (35-24) when freshman forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) netted a pair of free throws 1:37 into the third quarter. The Monks proceeded to lead by at least 10 points for the remainder of play and held a game-high 18-point (56-38) cushion when senior center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) hit a jumper with 7:03 left in the fourth.

With three seniors – Chelsea Campellone (Fall River, Mass.), Alessandra Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.), and Katie Murray (Holden, Mass.) - in the fold, the Rams showed plenty of fight in the closing minutes. Trailing by 18, Suffolk managed to make things interesting with a 16-8 burst, cutting the Monks' lead down to 10 (64-54) with 2:19 left, but Saint Joseph's managed to stem the tide by sinking all 10 free-throw attempts in the final two minutes.

PLAYOFFS?

With the victory, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Championship for the third time in the last five seasons and will host #3 Emmanuel College in the title game at 2:00 PM on Saturday. Emmanuel defeated #2 Johnson & Wales University, 71-61, in the other side of the tourney bracket earlier this evening.

For the Rams, tonight's loss likely signals the end, outside of an ECAC Tournament berth, of the 2015-16 campaign.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S

• Cahill led all scorers with 18 points and added six rebounds and three blocked shots
• McNamara netted 14 with five assists
• Benway contributed 12 points and six boards
• Freshman guard Hannah Marks (Waldoboro, Maine) scored eight points off the bench
• Champagne added six points, five caroms, and three assists

LEADERS – SUFFOLK

• Junior guard Kelsey Schiebel (Windham, N.H.) registered 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists
• Junior forward Alexandra Clarke (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) chipped in with 12 points, nine boards, and three rejections
• Junior guard Georgia Bourikas (Hull, Mass.) came off the bench to score 11 points with four rebounds and a pair of assists

TEAM STATS

Saint Joseph's shot 41% (25-61) from the floor, 27.8% (5-18) from three-point range, and 70.4% (19-27) from the free throw line. Suffolk countered by shooting 35.6% (21-59) overall, 22.2% (4-18) from beyond the arc, and 75% (12-16) from the charity stripe.

Saint Joseph's maintained the advantage in rebounds (40-36), assists (17-14), turnovers (9-13), second-chance points (17-10), points in the paint (24-20), and bench points (26-16) in the victory. Suffolk posted an 11-9 edge in points off turnovers in the losing bid.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

Saint Joseph's is now 8-8 all-time versus Suffolk University and, with tonight's win, avenges a pair of GNAC Tournament Semifinal setbacks at the hands of the Rams, who cut the Monks' season short in second round of the conference tourney in 2011 and 2013.

#GOMONKS

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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 474-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.