BOSTON, MA – The Suffolk University Women's Basketball team (18-9 overall) defeated Saint Joseph's College (18-9 overall), 71-62 on Thursday in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference semifinals.

The Rams narrowly survived a 23-0 second half run by the Monks to advance to Saturday's conference championship against top-seeded Emmanuel College, who were 67-47 winners over St. Joseph College (CT) in the other conference semifinal tilt tonight.

Junior Meghan Black (Roslindale, Mass.) led all scorers with 15 points as the Rams finished with four players in double digits in scoring.

Suffolk opened the game up with a 15-2 run in the first half after the Monks scored the game's first four points. The Rams would continue to score taking a 15 point lead into halftime, 36-21 led by Black's 3-of-6 shooting from the field. Suffolk posted a 51.7 field goal percentage as a team in the opening twenty minutes of the game.

The Rams got up to their largest lead of the contest with 11:09 remaining in the second half as sophomore Catherine Carey (Reading, Mass.) connected on a jumper to make it 61-36, but those would be the last points the Rams would score for nearly nine minutes.

Saint Joseph's trailed 61-36 with 11:09 remaining in the game but managed to score 23 unanswered points to creep back into contention.

Junior Megan McDevitt (Cumberland, Me.) would connect on a three-pointer with 6:29 remaining to bring the Monks back within 10 points and 61-51, and then would bring them within two points with a little less than three minutes remaining connecting on her second trey of the game.

Freshman Jennifer Ruys (Wallingford, Conn.) would snap the Rams' skid with a layup at 2:27 with two of her 12 points in the contest.

Sophomore Dominique Demar (Colchester, Conn.) would sink a pair of free throws with fifty five seconds remaining to give the Rams a six point edge, and then Black would seal the Monks' fate hitting both of her shot from the line twenty seconds later.

McDevitt finished with a team-high 14 points, including 10 in the second half. Freshman Abby Young (North Yarmouth, Me.) had 11 points and led the Monks with seven rebounds.

Carey had 10 points for the Rams, while sophomore Lindsey Rogers (Gloucester, Mass.) had 12 points.

The Rams held a 42-35 edge in rebounds in the game.

The loss drops Saint Joseph's College to 18-9 overall on the season. The Monks entered the game as the third seed in the tournament.

The second-seeded Suffolk University Rams improve to 18-9.

COURTESY OF SUFFOLK SPORTS INFORMATION