STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (7-7, 0-1 GNAC) fell to Johnson & Wales (6-8, 1-0) in GNAC Women's Basketball action on Saturday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Center. Carolyn Freeman '10 (Scarborough, ME/McAuley) led the Royal Blue with 13 points in the losing effort and the Wildcats were led offensively by Maria Valletta ‘09 (Greenville, RI), who scored a game high 17 points.

Four SJC players scored ten or more points in the game. Allison Miner ‘10 (Pembroke, NH) had ten of her twelve points in the first half and grabbed eight boards, while Alysn Ludwig ‘09 (Waldoboro, ME) and Ashley Geel ‘12 (St. George, ME) both tallied 10 points and six rebounds. Ludwig also dealt a team-best five assists.

St. Joe's led the game for the first 10 minutes of play and held a two-point edge, 15-13, after Meghan Daigle ‘10 (Grantham, NH) made one of two free throws at the 9:36 mark. Miner and Ludwig combined to score 10 of the team's points during this span.

Alexia Ramirez ‘10 (San Marcos, CA) drained a three-pointer 13 seconds later to provide the Wildcats with their first lead of the game. The trey started a 10-2 run that saw JWU hold a 23-17 advantage with 6:12 left in the first half.

Johnson & Wales enjoyed their largest cushion of the first half, 37-26, after Jeniphr Moxley ‘10 (Lakewood, WA) hit a jumpshot with 54 seconds to the break. The Lady Monks cut the deficit to seven points after Sarah Fournier ‘11 (Jay, ME) and Miner each made a pair of freebies to make the score 37-30 going into intermission.

Saint Joseph's outscored Johnson & Wales 17-4 in the opening nine minutes of the second half en route to a 47-41 lead. Ramirez made a pair of treys on back to back JWU possessions and the Wildcats regained the lead two minutes later when Johanna Santosuosso ‘09 (Salem, NH) made two freebies to put her team up, 51-50, with 9:07 to play.

The Wildcats went on to lead by three or more for the remainder of the game. On three occasions, St. Joe's was able to climb back and make it a two-possession game, but each time a JWU player made a shot from beyond the arc to quash the idea. Santosuosso made two three's in final six minutes to help secure the lead as the Wildcats cruised to a 70-59 conference victory.

For Johnson & Wales, Santosuosso notched 14 points and seven assists, Ramirez had 13 points and six rebounds and Alyse Ragaglia ‘09 (West Newbury, MA) scored 12 points. Valletta grabbed a team-high eight boards in the triumph.

Daigle and Freeman collected ten and eight rebounds, respectively, in the losing effort. The Lady Monks outworked the Wildcats on the glass, as proven by the 52-32 rebounding advantage, but committed a season-high 26 fouls which allowed JWU to go to the line 33 times. The Wildcats converted 21 of those tries (63.6%) and forced 26 SJC turnovers, the most miscues the Lady Monks have made this year.

Saint Joseph's will play at Suffolk University in a GNAC contest on Thursday, January 15th at 7:00 PM while JWU will play at Lasell College on Tuesday, January 13th.

Johnson & Wales vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
01/10/09 1:00 PM at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
JOHNSON & WALES 70, ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 59
JOHNSON & WALES (6-8, 1-0 GNAC)
Maria Valletta 6-8 5-5 17; Johanna Santosuosso 3-6 6-10 14; Alexia Ramirez
3-10 4-6 13; Alyse Ragaglia 3-19 4-10 12; Jeniphr Moxley 3-8 2-2 8; Morgan
Wilson 3-4 0-0 6; Teri Prado 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 21-33 70.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (7-7, 0-1 GNAC)
Carolyn Freeman 5-8 3-3 13; Allison Miner 5-11 2-3 12; Ashley Geel 4-6 1-4
10; Alysn Ludwig 4-12 2-4 10; Meghan Daigle 1-11 5-6 7; Sarah Fournier 1-2
2-2 5; Casey Drake 1-3 0-0 2; Megan McDevitt 0-2 0-0 0; Kayla Nowell 0-0 0-0
0; Kayla Boston 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-57 15-22 59.
Johnson & Wales............... 37 33 - 70
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 30 29 - 59
3-point goals--Johnson & Wales 7-26 (Alexia Ramirez 3-6; Johanna Santosuosso
2-4; Alyse Ragaglia 2-15; Jeniphr Moxley 0-1), St. Joseph's (Me.) 2-8 (Sarah
Fournier 1-2; Ashley Geel 1-1; Alysn Ludwig 0-1; Megan McDevitt 0-1; Carolyn
Freeman 0-3). Fouled out--Johnson & Wales-Alexia Ramirez, St. Joseph's
(Me.)-Casey Drake. Rebounds--Johnson & Wales 32 (Maria Valletta 8), St.
Joseph's (Me.) 52 (Meghan Daigle 10). Assists--Johnson & Wales 14 (Johanna
Santosuosso 7), St. Joseph's (Me.) 15 (Alysn Ludwig 5). Total fouls--Johnson
& Wales 22, St. Joseph's (Me.) 26. Technical fouls--Johnson & Wales-None,
St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. A-150