Monks Kick Off West Coast Trip with 74-70 Win at Pomona-Pitzer

Monks Kick Off West Coast Trip with 74-70 Win at Pomona-Pitzer

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CLAREMONT, Calif. – Senior guard Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) netted a career-high 40 points to help #13/14 Saint Joseph's College (11-0) clip Pomona-Pitzer College (7-4), 74-70, in a non-conference women's basketball contest on the west coast on Saturday afternoon.

With the scoring effort, McNamara becomes just the second player in program history to net 40 points as she joins former standout Linda Johnson '81 on the exclusive list. Johnson scored a program-record 49 points versus Maine-Machias on February 25th, 1978.

Saint Joseph's concludes the two-game west coast swing tomorrow with a 4:00 PM (EST) game at Occidental College.

The Monks return to Maine on Wednesday – fans can follow the team on the 'Monks in Cali' blog, which is being maintained by senior Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The closely contested matchup – which featured seven lead changes and five tie scores with neither team attaining a 10-point advantage – went in the Monks' favor with the help of a 15-4 run that spanned six minutes starting late in the third quarter. Incredibly, McNamara scored all 15 of her team's points during the stretch, which ended with the Royal Blue holding a game-high nine-point (66-57) lead with 5:22 left.

The Sagehens did not go down easily however, as the hosts notched an 8-2 run of their own to cut the deficit down to 68-65 with 2:59 on the clock. St. Joe's, ranked 13th and 14th nationally in the latest D3hoops.com and Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) weekly polls, respectively, managed to keep Pomona-Pitzer at bay by making 8-of-10 free throw attempts in the closing three minutes.

STATS OF THE GAME:

Free throw shooting proved to be the difference, as the Monks went 22-28 from the charity stripe while the Sagehens converted 10 of their 14 attempts from the line.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

  • McNamara was 12-12 from the FT line with nine rebounds and three assists in addition to scoring 40 points
  • Senior guard Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) added 11 points and five rebounds
  • Senior forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) chipped in with nine points and nine boards
  • Senior guard Hannah Marks (Waldoboro, Maine) contributed eight points and four assists

LEADERS – POMONA-PITZER:

  • Freshman guard Kamil English (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) tallied 20 points, five boards, and three assists
  • Senior guard Keilani Ikehara (Los Angeles, Calif.) added 10 points, six assists, and four caroms
  • Freshman guard Carly Leong (Palo Alto, Calif.) came off the bench to net 18 points

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Saint Joseph's is now 3-0 in the history of the series with Pomona-Pitzer. Previously the Monks posted wins over the Sagehens during the semester break of the 2011 and 2014 seasons.

 

#GOMONKS

 

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Founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy in Portland, Maine, Saint Joseph’s College is Maine’s Catholic liberal arts college in the Mercy tradition. We are inclusive of all faiths, including no faith. The 474-acre campus, located on the shore of Sebago Lake in Standish, Maine offers more than 40 undergraduate programs and a Division III athletic program to a population of approximately 1,000 on-campus students. A pioneer of distance education since the 1970s, the College also provides online certificates and undergraduate and graduate degrees for thousands more working adults who reside in more than 20 other countries. In 2015 the College was selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to receive its Community Engagement Classification, highlighting the College’s focus on community service throughout its mission and daily interactions within local, regional, and global communities. In 2018, Princeton Review recognized SJC as one of its “Green Colleges” for its sustainability initiatives. Learn more at www.sjcme.edu.