BOSTON, MA – Saint Joseph's College (8-5, 0-1 GNAC) fell to Suffolk University (6-5, 2-0 GNAC), 66-60, in the Monks' 2011 Great Northeast Athletic Conference opener on Thursday night. Allie Parent '12 (Camden, ME) paced the Royal Blue with 12 points in the setback.

Junior Mary Garon (Auburn, N.H.) and sophomore Dominique Demar (Colchester, Conn.) each scored 16 points to lead the Rams, who shot a season high fifty-four percent as a team from the field in the contest.

Garon got the Rams out of the gates quick as Suffolk jumped out to a 14-2 lead within the first four minutes of the game. Garon connected on two three-pointers within the first two minutes of action to stake the Rams out to the early lead.

The Rams would continue to pile on points early in the first half as they had their largest lead at 19 thirteen minutes into the contest when junior Meghan Black (Roslindale, Mass.) connected on a free throw following a layup for the three-point play.

St. Joe's was victimized by slow starts in both halves. The Monks managed to put together a 14-3 run at the end of the first half to cut the deficit to six points heading into the break with a 31-25 score.

The Rams jumped out to a quick 8-2 run to spread themselves out by a dozen points at 37-25 four minutes into the second half.

Demar took over in the second half scoring 10 points, along with four of her game-high six rebounds as she also blocked three shots.

The Monks would not go quietly however as they put together another run late in the latter half outscoring the Rams 13-3 in a three-minute span late in the second. A layup by freshman Lindsay Moore (Somersworth, Me.) would make it 62-58 with 1:35 left to play.

Garon would go to the free throw line thirty seconds later connecting on both shots to make it a two possession game, and sophomore Jacqueline Vienneau (Salem, N.H.) would make two free throw shots of her own to put the Monks out of contention.

For the Monks, freshman Abby Young (North Yarmouth, Me.) put in 11 points and went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and classmate Mackenzie Dufour (Augusta, Me.) added a career-high nine points with four assists and four caroms in the loss. Casey Drake '11 (Lebanon, N.H.) contributed eight points and a team-high five rebounds while Danyelle Shufelt '13 (Sutton, Vt.) chipped in with seven points.

Junior Meghan Black (Roslinedale, Mass.) was 4-for-6 from the field scoring 10 points for the Rams who have now opened the second half of the season with consecutive wins in GNAC play.

Both teams will be back in GNAC action this weekend. The Monks will travel to Rivier College this Saturday at noon, while Suffolk will be on the court on Saturday as they travel across town to take on Emmanuel College at 1:00pm.

COURTESY OF SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Photo courtesy of Rick Young, ryoung3@me.com