STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (12-5, 4-1 GNAC) defeated Simmons College (4-13, 0-4 GNAC), 75-60, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's basketball contest at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Junior center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) led the Monks with 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals in the victory.
The first half was closely contested, as the conference counterparts swapped the lead on eight occasions in the opening 10 minutes. Trailing 22-17 with 11:41 before the break, sophomore forward Molly Mack (Portland, Maine/McAuley) made a layup to ignite a 16-2 run, a scoring binge that was capped by a Brianna Holdren (Portland, Maine) six minutes later and provided the Monks with a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of play.
Eight players netted at least six points in the victory for the Monks, as freshman forward Norma Waggett (Saugus, Mass.) contributed 12 points and five rebounds and first-year guard Hayley Quirion (Augusta, Maine) scored nine with four assists while Holdren, senior Sarah Assante (Standish, Maine), sophomore Emily Kehoe (Perkinsville, Vt.) and freshman Emily Quirion (Augusta, Maine) totaled eight points apiece. Mack added six points for the hosts.
Simmons sophomore Kimberlee Hixon (Taunton, Mass.), who was 6-7 from the floor, 2-3 from downtown and 7-7 from the free throw line, scored a game-high 21 points in a losing effort. Sophomore Liz Brasa (East Hartford, Conn.) came off the bench to net 11 points during 13 minutes of play while sophomore Ashley McAdams (Freeport, N.Y.) led all participants with nine rebounds and added six points on the afternoon.
Coming off a loss to University of New England in which the Monks shot a season-low 19% from the floor, Saint Joseph's posted a collective 45.5% (30-66) effort, the second-highest mark of the season, in today's win over the Sharks. St. Joe's committed just 10 turnovers while scoring 26 points off 22 Simmons miscues in the victory and also registered a season-high 24 assists in the conference contest.
The Monks carried a 39-30 lead into intermission and put the game out of reach with an 11-2 outburst, which took place during a two-minute span midway through the second stanza. Waggett scored five points during the scoring surge while Hayley Quirion accounted for the other six points with a pair of trifectas, including a three that closed the run with the Monks ahead, 58-40, with 11:44 remaining.
The Sharks went on to post a 10-2 scoring run later in the half, cutting their deficit down to a more manageable 11 points (64-53) after Hixon capped the effort with a pair of freebies at the 6:04 mark, but the Monks closed the door on the visitors' comeback hopes by netting 11 unanswered points to secure a game-high 22-point (75-53) cushion with 3:24 on the clock.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 7-2 all-time versus Simmons College and has now defeated the Sharks in five consecutive meetings dating back to the 2009-10 campaign.
Both teams host conference opponents on Tuesday night, when Saint Joseph's hosts Lasell College at 5:30 PM and Simmons looks to snap a six-game skid in a 7:00 PM tip-off versus Mount Ida College.
As part of the Campus Winter Carnival festivities, the Monks will host a "White Out" event on Tuesday evening. The first 500 fans will receive a white tee shirt with a special edition logo adorned on the front and fans are encouraged to wear their new shirts at the game as they cheer on their Monks in an important conference matchup!
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
