STANDISH, ME - Simmons College (17-7, 8-3 GNAC) defeated Saint Joseph's (12-12, 5-6) 64-51 in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference matchup at the Alfond Center on Tuesday evening. Meghan Daigle '10 (Grantham, NH) posted her second double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 boards in the loss. Sharks forward Stephanie Fox ‘10 (West Springfield, MA) scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 12 caroms to lead the visitors. Saint Joseph's hosted its second annual Pink Zone game to help raise breast cancer awareness and all gate proceeds were donated to Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.

St. Joe's trailed 37-19 at the break, but used a 13-4 run in the early minutes of the second half to fight back into the contest. The Lady Monks outscored the Sharks by a 32-27 margin in the second stanza, but Simmons cut the SJC rally short with the help of a 9-11 effort from the charity stripe in the last three minutes to seal the victory.

Simmons began the game on a 10-2 outburst, with Fox accounting for five of the points with a trey and a coast-to-coast drive after grabbing a loose ball from SJC center Ashley Geel ‘12 (St. George, ME). On the following St. Joe's possession, Geel made a basket from the paint and Daigle proceeded to net buckets on consecutive drives as the Royal Blue closed the gap, 13-8, with 12:52 remaining in the first half.

Four minutes later, a foul shot made by Sharks' guard Lauren Kreckie ‘09 (Braintree, MA) capped an 11-2 surge by the visitors and put the Lady Monks down 24-10. Simmons went on to hold at least an 11-point lead for the remainder of the half and led 37-18 going into intermission.

A pair of freebies from Fox 4:21 into the second period pushed the Sharks' lead to a game-high 21 points, 43-22, before the Lady Monks found new life with the help of some fresh legs off the bench. Sharpshooter Sarah Fournier ‘11 (Jay, ME) sparked the hosts with a pair of three-pointers during the aforementioned run, which saw St. Joe's cut the deficit to 45-35 after Amelia Lamb ‘12 (Topsham, ME) drained a jumper at the 12:16 mark.

Simmons managed to push their lead to 16 with a 6-0 microburst in the subsequent four minutes, as a pair of Fox jumpers sandwiched a bucket from Sarah Clayton ‘09 (Falmouth, MA) to lift the Sharks to a 51-35 lead with 8:31 to play. Saint Joseph's recovered by posting an 8-0 run and cut the lead back down to single-digits, eight points, as Geel scored back-to-back baskets to cut the Simmons lead to 51-43 with 6:09 to play.

Unfortunately for the Lady Monks, the eight-point difference was as close as they would get to the Sharks. The hard-fought comeback effort fell short, as Simmons made six straight shots from the line in the closing minutes to help capture a 64-51 conference victory.

For St. Joe's, Geel had nine points, three boards, three assists and two blocks and Fournier added seven points and four assists. Casey Drake ‘11 (Lebanon, NH) netted five points and four caroms and Alysn Ludwig ‘09 (Waldoboro, ME) grabbed five rebounds in the loss.

With her second free throw of the contest with 2:35 left in the second stanza, Daigle became the 11th player in SJC women's basketball history, and the first since 2003 (Abbie Rice ‘04), to make 100 free throws in a single season.
For Simmons, Clayton chipped in with 15 points, six boards and four dimes and Julianna Eagles ‘10 (Quincy, MA) netted 13 points in the win. Fox shot 10-11 from the charity stripe and collected four steals for the Sharks.

Saint Joseph's will host Lasell College on Saturday at 1:00 PM while Simmons is set to host Norwich University the same day in a 1:00 PM conference contest. St. Joe's must defeat Lasell in order to hold on to the #8 seed and advance to the GNAC playoffs.

Newspaper Box Score
Simmons College vs Saint Joseph's College (Me.)
02/17/09 6:00 PM at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
SIMMONS COLLEGE 64, SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE (ME.) 51
SIMMONS COLLEGE (17-7, 8-3 GNAc)
Stephanie Fox 8-19 10-11 27; Sarah Clayton 6-12 2-2 15; Julianna Eagles 3-10
6-8 13; Lauren Kreckie 3-11 2-4 8; Aubree Giarrosso 0-2 1-2 1; Liane
Lantagne 0-0 0-0 0; Brittany Langford 0-0 0-0 0; Morgan Johnson 0-3 0-0 0;
Jordan Manchester 0-1 0-0 0; Alex Acloque 0-0 0-0 0; Jamie Liberty 0-0 0-0
0; Julia King 0-1 0-0 0; Jessica Thomas 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-61 21-27 64.
SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE (ME.) (12-12, 5-6 GNAC)
Meghan Daigle 8-16 5-6 21; Ashley Geel 4-8 0-1 9; Sarah Fournier 2-4 1-2 7;
Casey Drake 1-3 2-2 5; Alysn Ludwig 2-11 0-2 4; Carolyn Freeman 1-7 0-0 3;
Amelia Lamb 1-2 0-0 2; Andrea Enright 0-1 0-0 0; Kayla Nowell 0-3 0-0 0;
Megan McDevitt 0-2 0-0 0; Kayla Boston 0-1 0-0 0; Allison Miner 0-5 0-0 0.
Totals 19-63 8-13 51.
Simmons College............... 37 27 - 64
Saint Joseph's College (Me.).. 19 32 - 51
3-point goals--Simmons College 3-13 (Sarah Clayton 1-2; Julianna Eagles 1-6;
Stephanie Fox 1-2; Jordan Manchester 0-1; Jessica Thomas 0-1; Lauren Kreckie
0-1), Saint Joseph's College (Me.) 5-14 (Sarah Fournier 2-4; Ashley Geel
1-2; Casey Drake 1-2; Carolyn Freeman 1-4; Kayla Nowell 0-1; Alysn Ludwig
0-1). Fouled out--Simmons College-None, Saint Joseph's College (Me.)-None.
Rebounds--Simmons College 45 (Stephanie Fox 12), Saint Joseph's College
(Me.) 43 (Meghan Daigle 10). Assists--Simmons College 10 (Sarah Clayton 4),
Saint Joseph's College (Me.) 15 (Sarah Fournier 4). Total fouls--Simmons
College 15, Saint Joseph's College (Me.) 20. Technical fouls--Simmons
College-None, Saint Joseph's College (Me.)-None. A-120