STANDISH, ME – Megan McDevitt '12 (Cumberland, ME) connected on a three-point attempt with five seconds remaining to lift Saint Joseph's (8-4) past Wesleyan University (6-5), 55-54, in a non-conference women's basketball contest at the Harold Alfond Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinals had an opportunity to seal the victory with late free throws, but a pair misses from the charity stripe in the final 16 seconds left the door open for the Monks to steal the win.
The teams combined to swap leads 12 times and the largest advantage – seven points - was held by the Monks with 6:41 remaining in the evenly-matched contest, which was essentially a mirror image of the game played at Wesleyan a year ago when the Cardinals tipped the Monks, 62-61 with a closing-seconds bucket.
Monks center Ashley Geel '12 (St. George, ME) enjoyed a solid game and led all scorers with 16 points off a 7-12 shooting effort. Allie Parent '12 (Camden, ME) netted 11 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals and McDevitt dropped nine points off a 3-4 performance from downtown.
SJC point guard Mackenzie Dufour '14 (Augusta, ME) dished out seven assists, Casey Drake '11 (Lebanon, NH) added six points and Abby Young '14 (North Yarmouth, ME) contributed five points and six boards in the triumph.
Sam LaCroce '12 (Prospect, CT) paced the visitors with 15 points and eight boards while Eileen Gaffney '12 (Manhasset, NY) chipped in with 14 points and six caroms for the Cardinals. Kendra Harris '13 (St. Paul, MN) tallied 10 points and Erin Gold '11 (New Hope, PA) added seven points in the losing effort.
The Monks netted a pair of buckets under the hoop in the early going to secure a 4-0 lead at the 18:17 mark, but the Cardinals used the long ball to post an 11-2 run over the next two minutes. Wesleyan drained a trio of treys during the offensive surge with two from Gold, who nailed a wide-open look from the top of the key to lift the visitors to an 11-6 lead with 16:29 left in the first half.
The five-point lead turned out to be the Cardinals' largest cushion of the afternoon.
After a timeout, the Monks rebounded with a 7-1 burst which was capped by a Danyelle Shufelt '13 (Sutton, VT) jumpshot that put the hosts back on top, 13-12, with 12:52 remaining in the first period.
Gaffney hit a three-pointer on the ensuing Wesleyan possession to give her team a two-point lead, but a freebie from Shufelt and a Parent trifecta put the Royal Blue back on top, 17-15, with 9:43 on the first-half clock.
Saint Joseph's held at least a share of the lead until McKinley Tennant '11 (Swampscott, MA) made a three-pointer to lift the visitors to a 28-26 advantage with 55 seconds left in the half. Tennant's long ball capped a 7-0 run for the Cardinals, who carried the two-point cushion into the intermission.
In the first half, St. Joe's shot 41.7% overall, 42.9% from three-point range and 37.5% from the charity stripe, while Wesleyan shot 32.1% from the floor, 45.5% from three-point distance and 62.5% from the FT line. The Monks committed 11 turnovers in the first stanza with seven steals being credited to the Cardinals.
Geel led all first-half scorers with eight points, while Gold, LaCroce and Harris all netted six points to lead the Cardinals in the first 20 minutes.
Saint Joseph's opened the second stanza in the same manner as Wesleyan ended the first – with a 7-0 run. Geel started the outburst with a bucket under the hoop, McDevitt followed with a three-pointer, and a Drake layup lifted the Royal Blue to a 33-28 lead with 17:38 left in the second half.
The Monks held on to the lead until Harris hit a jumpshot at the 9:53 mark to put the visitors up, 40-39. St. Joe's responded with an 8-0 run, capped by a Theresa Hendrix '14 (Portland, ME/Cheverus) layup, to capture the largest lead of the day for either team – 47-40 – with 6:41 left in regulation.
Wesleyan trailed for over four minutes but managed to secure a three-point lead – 53-50 – with three consecutive baskets from Gaffney, Amber Wessells '14 (Montclair, NJ) and LaCroce, who nailed the final bucket with 1:30 remaining.
Geel put in another shot from the paint to cut the Cardinals' lead to one point with 17 seconds left. The Monks, forced to foul, tagged Tennant, who made her first attempt but missed her second, and then marked Gaffney, who grabbed the offensive board off the missed freebie. Gaffney missed her first shot of the one-and-one and the carom was grabbed by Geel, who quickly moved the ball upcourt. Parent found McDevitt, who heaved a three-point bid into the bucket with two seconds on the game clock.
The Monks were able to celebrate the hard-fought victory after a half-court heave by Gold missed the target as time expired.
Saint Joseph's shot 43.5% (20-46) overall, 45.5% (5-11) from three-point range and 62.5% (10-16) from the charity stripe in the triumph. Wesleyan countered by shooting 35.7% (20-56) from the floor, 29.4% (5-17) from beyond the arc and 56.3% (9-16) from the FT line. The Cardinals went 0-6 from three-point distance in the second half.
The Monks held an advantage in rebounds (35-31) and assists (16-13) while the Cardinals won the turnover battle (15-22). Saint Joseph's also held a commanding 28-12 advantage in points in the paint in the victory.
St. Joe's will kick off its Great Northeast Athletic Conference docket with a game at Suffolk University on Thursday at 7:00 PM, while Wesleyan is set to host Williams College on Tuesday at 7:30 PM.
Photo courtesy of Rick Young, ryoung3@me.com
