Emmanuel Women's Hoops Repeats as GNAC Champs
BOSTON, Mass. – Top-seeded Emmanuel College (21-7) defeated #2 Saint Joseph's College (19-9), 67-50, in the 2020 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Basketball Championship on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss the Monks' season comes to a close with a 19-9 overall record, including a 9-2 mark in conference play, both impressive marks especially considering the program lost to graduation nearly 80% of it's offensive production from a 2018-19 team that went 28-2 and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA DIII Tournament.
The loss brings an end to the college careers of Saint Joseph's senior captains Julia Quinn (Fryeburg, Maine) and Lexi L'Heureux-Carland (Bridgton, Maine), a duo that helped the Monks post a 99-18 (.846) overall record, including a 52-3 (.946) mark in GNAC play, with four GNAC Championship appearances, three conference titles, and three NCAA Tournament berths over the past four seasons.
With the win, Emmanuel advances to the 2020 NCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament for the second consecutive season and 20th time overall. The Saints, who have now won 17 conference championships, will find out their first-round opponent on Monday's NCAA selection show at 2:30 PM.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Saints never trailed in the action, scoring on their first offensive possession on a layup by sophomore forward Loredana D'Agostino (Broad Brook, Conn.) to start a 13-3 surge to open the game. EC built the lead to as many as 14 in the opening quarter (19-5) before the Monks closed the period strong by connecting on six consecutive free throws to make it 21-11 through one.
- Two free throws by senior guard Julia Quinn (Fryeburg, Maine) and a layup by freshman guard Bri Jordan (Gray, Maine) to start the second cut Emmanuel's lead to 21-15 but the Saints answered with a pair of free throws by D'Agostino followed by a layup from senior Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda (Cambridge, Mass. to regain the double-digit cushion at 25-15 with 6:46 to play in the half.
- A jumper by EC sophomore Riley Lahiff (Attleboro, Mass.) moved the hosts lead to 33-19 before junior Cassandra Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) nailed a three for the Monks to cap the scoring at 33-22 heading into halftime.
- The Saints held the Monks to a 23.1% shooting clip in the first half that included a 16.7% from behind the arc while outrebound St. Joes 25-14 in the stanza.
- Emmanuel took control of the game after the break, opening the third quarter on a 14-3 run capped by a Ramirez-Tejeda layup with 6:12 left in the quarter to give EC a 47-25 advantage.
- The Monks refused to let the game get out of hand and over the final six minutes in the third outscored Emmanuel by a 13-6 margin fueled by eight points from Stapelfeld to close the gap to 53-38 heading into the final period.
- EC senior guard Kayla Weaver (West Haven, Conn.) and Quinn traded hoops to open the fourth before Emmanuel started to cement the win with an 8-2 flurry with a three by Weaver to close the run and make it a 63-42 contest with 5:06 to play.
- A pair of Stapelfeld free throws with 2:28 closed the gap back to 15 (65-50) but the Saints defense held St. Joes scoreless the rest of the way to secure the 67-50 victory for the 2020 GNAC Championship.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Ramirez-Tejeda paced the Saints with 20 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for her 22nd double-double of the year the lead all women's basketball players at the NCAA Division III level.
- Weaver added 14 points and four steals in 36 minutes of action, going perfect from beyond the arc (1-1) and the free throw line (3-3) in the victory.
- Stapelfeld led all scorers with 21 points including a gutsy 5-for-6 performance from long range while Jordan added 13 points and team-best eight rebounds in 30 minutes off the bench for the Monks.
- D'Agostino finished the afternoon with 11 points and seven rebounds while junior guard Jamad Fiin (Boston, Mass.) hit some big shots in an 11-point effort for EC.
OF NOTE
- Emmanuel improves to 20-7 all-time against the Monks and has now won the last three meetings after dropping five straight from 2016-19.
- This marks the second consecutive GNAC Championship win for Emmanuel over Saint Joseph's as the Saints posted a 65-64 win last season in Standish, Maine to earn the GNAC AQ to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
- The win marks the 17th GNAC Championship in program history for Emmanuel and moves the Saints to 17-4 all-time in Finals action while the loss moves the Monks to 4-3 on the GNAC's big stage.
- During the action, Ramirez-Tejeda moved into third all-time in scoring at Emmanuel, surpassing former GNAC Player of the Year Fiona O'Dwyer '13 on the list and now has 1,576 points in just three seasons at EC.
- Emmanuel is now 628 (.886) all-time in GNAC tournament action.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Pam Gonzalez, Regis College
Jenni-Rose DiCecco, Suffolk University
Julia Quinn, Saint Joseph's College
Cassandra Stapelfeld, Saint Joseph's College
Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda, Emmanuel College
Loredana D'Agostino, Emmanuel College
MVP: Kayla Weaver, Emmanuel College
COURTESY OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
