STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (7-1, 2-0 GNAC) toppled Rivier University (0-6, 0-2 GNAC), 102-17, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's basketball game at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon.

FIRST GLANCE:

Needing 17 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career, junior guard Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) scored 14 in the first quarter and hit the mark on the nose with a three-pointer 29 seconds into the second frame and wound up with a game-high 19 points with four assists and a pair of steals in 19 minutes.

McNamara, the 23rd member of the SJC Women's Basketball 1,000-Point Club, is just the seventh player to reach four digits as a junior. Averaging 15.2 PPG for her career, the third-year standout surpassed the milestone in her 66th game.

THE REST OF THE STORY:

Leading 10-3 with 5:30 to play in the first quarter, Saint Joseph's rattled off 24 unanswered points en route to holding a commanding 54-6 cushion heading into intermission.

With all five starters on the bench early in the third quarter, the Monks continued to add to their lead and held a 77-14 advantage after three periods. Despite milking the shot clock to single digits on every possession, St. Joe's continued to pad the lead in the fourth and closed out the contest with 15 straight points over the final five minutes.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Junior forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) tallied 14 points and two boards over 14 minutes
• Junior guard Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) contributed eight points, five rebounds, and three assists – including the helper on McNamara's 1,000th point bucket – during 13 minutes on the floor
• Freshman guard Jordan Jabar (Waterville, Maine) registered a double-double with 11 points and 16 boards
• Sophomore guard Grace Mulvey (Merrimack, N.H.) was 6-9 from the field with 13 points and seven rebounds
• Sophomore guard Julia Quinn (Fryeburg, Maine) netted 10 points
• Senior guard Emily DeLuca (Gorham, Maine) and freshman guard Madigan Cogger (York, Maine) pitched in with nine points apiece

LEADERS – RIVIER:

• Senior guard Emiliee Kacavas (Dracut, Mass.) paced the visitors with nine points and pulled down six rebounds
• Junior forward Megan Hamel (Colebrook, N.H.) tallied seven points and six boards

TEAM STATS:

Saint Joseph's held considerable advantages in rebounds (49-22), assists (25-1), points off turnovers (32-1), second-chance points (24-2), points in the paint (58-4), and bench points (55-0) in the lopsided victory.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 13-5 in the history of the series with Rivier University.

NOTEWORTHY:

Saint Joseph's set a new single-game record for largest margin of victory (85) this afternoon – the previous mark (74), came in a 117-43 victory over Western New England on January 15th, 1989…prior to today, the Monks had not allowed fewer than 18 points since February 4th, 1979 in a 73-14 triumph (fewest points allowed in team history) over University of New England…Rivier set several ignominious SJC opponent records this afternoon, including lowest FG% (9.4%), fewest assists (1), and fewest steals (1)…today's victory marks the first time the Monks scored 100 points – and 35th occurrence in program history - since SJC defeated Newbury, 101-64, on January 8th, 2008…the last time Saint Joseph's scored 102 points was February 25th, 1990 in a 102-80 win over Johnson State.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's is off until New Year's Eve when the team hosts Husson University in a 1:00 PM tip-off.

#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.