NORTHFIELD, VT - Saint Joseph's (12-11, 5-5 GNAC) fell to conference foe Norwich University (15-6, 8-2), 63-51, on the road on Saturday afternoon. Meghan Daigle ‘10 (Grantham, NH) led the way for the Lady Monks with 15 points in the loss. Christine Daniels ‘11 (Concord, NH) and Ally Daniels ‘10 (Concord, NH) both scored 15 points to pace the Cadets.

The victory keeps Norwich in-line for homecourt advantage in the first round of the GNAC Tournament as the Cadets are currently in third place in the league standings with two regular season games remaining. Saint Joseph's, also with two conference games left, is currently in seventh place in a tie with Suffolk University. Eight teams qualify for the league playoffs.

The first nine minutes of the game produced five lead changes. Allison Miner's 10 (Pembroke, NH) hoop at the 12:57 mark lifted St. Joe's to a 12-11 edge, but Cadets guard Kayleigh Shappy ‘09 (Burlington, VT) connected on her first of three treys in the game over a minute later to ignite a 12-2 run for Norwich. A three-pointer from Daniels concluded the surge and extended the Cadets' lead to 23-14 with 7:40 left in the first half.

In the final minutes of the first stanza, a 4-6 performance from the free-throw line and a layup from Alysn Ludwig ‘09 (Waldoboro, ME), set up by a steal from Megan McDevitt ‘12 (Cumberland, ME), closed out the scoring for St. Joe's in the half with Norwich on top, 32-24.
Shappy connected on a shot from downtown to provide the Cadets with their largest lead of the game, 38-26, 1:37 into the second half. Saint Joseph's countered by blanking the hosts 9-0 in the next five minutes of play and trailed by just three points after Daigle, who generated seven points during the outburst, converted a three-point play by sinking a freebie with 13:32 remaining.

The Cadets followed in turn, however, by shutting down the Lady Monks 8-0 in the subsequent five minutes to regain a double-digit lead, 46-35, with 8:44 left in the contest.
A minute later, St. Joe's managed to cut the deficit down to five points after a steal by Miner yielded a layup from SJC point guard Casey Drake ‘11 (Lebanon, NH). The conference counterparts swapped hoops for the next minute-plus, as a bucket from McDevitt from three-point range at the 6:10 mark held the two-possession contest in check with Norwich in the lead, 51-46.

The Cadets inflated their lead to 10 points, 57-47, in the next two minutes of play. The Lady Monks trimmed the NU lead to eight points on two occasions in the following minute as Carolyn Freeman ‘10 (Scarborough, ME/McAuley) and Daigle both converted a pair of shots from the charity stripe, but St. Joe's was unable to inch closer, as Norwich went 4-6 from the line in the final minutes en route to securing the 63-51 win.

St. Joe's went 21-27 (77.8%) from the free-throw line and outrebounded Norwich 42-37 in the loss. The 21 free-throws made fell one short of the team's season high.

For the Lady Monks, Ludwig netted nine points and five rebounds, Freeman registered eight points with six boards and Ashley Geel 12 (St. George, ME) had five points with two blocked shots. Daigle made six of seven attempts from the free-throw line in the contest and, with 98 freebies made this season, is two shy of becoming the 11th player in program history to make 100 in a season. Her season free-throw percentage currently stands at 80.3%, which ties her with Shannon Field ‘99 for the ninth-best mark in team history.

In the team's second-annual WBCA "Pink Zone" event, Saint Joseph's will host Simmons College on Tuesday, February 17th at 6:00 PM. Norwich will play at Lasell College on Tuesday at 7:00 PM.

Newspaper Box Score
St. Joseph's (Me.) vs NORWICH CADETS
02/14/09 3:00 pm at Northfield, Vt. (Andrews Hall)
At Northfield, Vt. (Andrews Hall)
NORWICH CADETS 63, ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 51
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (12-11, 5-5 GNAC)
Meghan Daigle 4-10 6-7 15; Alysn Ludwig 1-2 7-10 9; Carolyn Freeman 3-10 2-2
8; Ashley Geel 1-8 3-4 5; Casey Drake 1-3 3-4 5; Allison Miner 2-9 0-0 4;
Megan McDevitt 1-3 0-0 3; Kayla Boston 1-3 0-0 2; Andrea Enright 0-0 0-0 0;
Sarah Fournier 0-0 0-0 0; Kayla Nowell 0-2 0-0 0; Amelia Lamb 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 14-51 21-27 51.
NORWICH CADETS (15-6, 8-2 GNAC)
Daniels, Ally 7-12 0-0 15; Daniels, Christine 5-11 5-6 15; Shappy Kayleigh
4-7 2-2 13; Stevenson, Tara 3-9 2-5 8; Rate, Erica 2-12 0-0 5; Jaggars, Jess
1-3 2-4 4; Girard, Marie 1-4 0-0 3; Knapp, Kelsey 0-0 0-0 0; Cowens, Kylie
0-3 0-0 0; Fasulo, Jocelyn 0-0 0-0 0; McWilliams, Laurel 0-2 0-0 0;
Marchese, Natalie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-63 11-17 63.
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 24 27 - 51
NORWICH CADETS................ 32 31 - 63
3-point goals--St. Joseph's (Me.) 2-12 (Meghan Daigle 1-2; Megan McDevitt
1-3; Carolyn Freeman 0-2; Ashley Geel 0-2; Casey Drake 0-1; Kayla Nowell
0-1; Amelia Lamb 0-1), NORWICH CADETS 6-24 (Shappy Kayleigh 3-4; Girard,
Marie 1-4; Daniels, Ally 1-3; Rate, Erica 1-11; Cowens, Kylie 0-2). Fouled
out--St. Joseph's (Me.)-None, NORWICH CADETS-None. Rebounds--St. Joseph's
(Me.) 42 (Carolyn Freeman 6), NORWICH CADETS 37 (Jaggars, Jess 8).
Assists--St. Joseph's (Me.) 7 (Carolyn Freeman 3; Meghan Daigle 3), NORWICH
CADETS 14 (Shappy Kayleigh 4; Rate, Erica 4). Total fouls--St. Joseph's
(Me.) 15, NORWICH CADETS 20. Technical fouls--St. Joseph's (Me.)-None,
NORWICH CADETS-None. A-319