LOS ANGELES, Calif. - #13/14 Saint Joseph's College (12-0) concluded a two-game west coast trip with a 69-50 victory at Occidental College (6-5) on Sunday afternoon.
The Monks, ranked 13th and 14th in the latest D3hoops.com and WBCA national polls, respectively, are off to the second-best start in program history. The 1998-99 team opened the season with 13-consecutive victories.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The game sat at a 17-17 stalemate with 5:17 left in the second quarter before the Monks registered a 13-4 run to collect a 30-21 lead.
The Tigers climbed back to within five points (30-25) with a second stanza buzzer beater jumper and a Madison Toy (San Francisco, Calif.) bucket 42 seconds into the third period, but Saint Joseph's broke the game open with a 15-4 run – capped by a Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) three-pointer – en route to securing a 45-29 cushion with 4:14 left in the penultimate quarter.
St. Joe's went on to claim a game-high 27-point (67-40) advantage after sophomore guard Jordan Jabar (Waterville, Maine) hit a jump shot with 5:53 remaining.
STATS OF THE GAME:
Saint Joseph's shot 44.6% (25-56) from the field with a 57.9% (11-19) effort from three-point distance – Occidental countered by shooting 31.3% (20-64) and 15.0% (3-20) from the floor and downtown, respectively.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Senior guard Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) was 6-7 from three-point distance with 26 points, two rebounds, and a pair of steals
- Champagne was 5-6 from downtown and 7-10 from the floor overall en route to scoring 23 points with 13 rebounds and four assists
- Senior forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) added six points and 12 rebounds
LEADERS – OCCIDENTAL:
- Sophomore guard Alyssa Ramlochan (Los Angeles, Calif.) notched a double-double with 15 points and 11 caroms
- Sophomore guard Taylor Yoshida (Montebello, Calif.) was 5-7 from the field with 11 points and three assists
- Freshman guard Raveena Dhiman (San Jose, Calif.) came off the bench to score 10 points
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
Today's victory is the Monks' first in three games versus Occidental. The Tigers tipped the Monks, 66-64, in the last meeting between the opposite coast foes on December 31st, 2014.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's kicks off Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a game at Regis College on Tuesday, January 8th at 7:00 PM.