NORTHFIELD, VT – Ashley Geel '12 (St. George, ME) tallied 16 points, 13 boards and six blocked shots to help lift Saint Joseph's (13-7, 5-2 GNAC) past Norwich University (14-6, 6-2 GNAC), 68-59, in conference women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon.

The game was tied on five occasions and the teams traded leads six times in the first half, but the Monks, who led 32-29 at the break, began the second stanza on a 7-0 run and did not relinquish the advantage for the remainder of the contest.

For the Royal Blue, Megan McDevitt '12 (Cumberland, ME) went 5-11 from beyond the arc and tallied 15 points and six caroms and Allie Parent '12 (Camden, ME) added 10 points and seven boards in the triumph. Mackenzie Dufour '14 (Augusta, ME) and Abby Young '14 (North Yarmouth, ME) both chipped in with seven points for St. Joe's.

For the Cadets, Christine Daniels '11 (Concord, NH) netted a game-high 28 points with 12 rebounds and four assists and Laurel McWilliams '11 (Swanton, VT) added 10 points and 13 caroms in a losing effort.

The Monks kicked off the contest on a 10-3 surge, as McDevitt drained a pair of trifectas and Geel scored twice in the paint to stake the Royal Blue to an early lead. The Cadets responded with an 11-4 run to knot the game at 14-all with 13:25 left in the first period.

Neither team attained a lead of more than four points for the rest of the first half. St. Joe's carried a three-point edge into intermission with the help of a Dufour three-pointer and a layup from Parent.

In the first half, Saint Joseph's shot 36.4% from the field and 23.5% from three-point range while shooting a perfect 4-4 from the charity stripe. Norwich shot 34.4% overall, 33.3% from beyond the arc, and 71.4% from the FT line in the opening frame.

Daniels led all first-half scorers with 16 points, while Geel paced the Royal Blue with 10 points heading into the second stanza.

As it played out, the Monks' 7-0 outburst over the first four minutes of the second half preserved the victory for the visitors. Danyelle Shufelt '13 (Sutton, VT) hit a jumper in the lane to cap the run and lift her team to a 39-29 lead, the first double-digit cushion of the contest for either club.

Norwich managed to cut its debt to seven points when Daniels tapped in a layup at the 15:13 mark, but the Cadets would get no closer to the lead as Saint Joseph's put the game away with a 21-8 run over the subsequent seven minutes. Dufour grabbed a loose ball and finished the play with a fastbreak layup to close out the scoring burst with the Monks ahead by a game-high 20 points – 62-42 – and 7:52 on the game clock.

The Cadets battled until the final buzzer and were able to cut the deficit to nine points, but the effort proved fruitless as the Monks' scoring outbreaks propelled the Royal Blue to an important conference triumph.

Saint Joseph's shot 43.1% (28-65) from the field, 25.9% (7-27) from beyond the arc, and 71.4% (5-7) from the free throw line. Norwich shot 33.9% (20-59) overall, 35.7% (5-14) from three-point range, and 73.7% (14-19) from the stripe on the afternoon.

The Monks held a slight 39-37 advantage on the glass and registered 16 assists on 28 buckets in the victory.

For Geel, the double-double effort was the second of the season and ninth of her career. Her rebounds total tied a career-high.

With five long balls in the win, McDevitt surpassed Shannon Field '99 for the seventh spot in career threes made in program history.  Her career success rate from downtown (39.6%, 116-293) ranks second behind Kim Buotte '96, who shot 40.1% (61-152) in her career.

St. Joe's broke the program-record for most three-pointers attempted in a game with 27 heaves in the victory. The prior mark was set against North Park on January 2nd, 1995.

With the result, Saint Joseph's improves to 11-6 in the history of the series with Norwich. The win stops a four-game skid at the hands of the Cadets, as the Monks had not defeated Norwich in four tries since joining the GNAC prior to the 2007-08 season.

Saint Joseph's will play at St. Joseph (CT) in a conference contest on Thursday at 6:00 PM, while Norwich will play at Rivier on Tuesday at 7:00 PM.