STANDISH, Maine – Junior center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) netted a career-high 31 points with nine rebounds and a pair of blocks to help lift Saint Joseph's College (15-6, 6-2 GNAC) past Bates College (9-13, 0-8 NESCAC), 69-62, in a non-conference women's basketball game at the Harold Alfond Center on Tuesday evening.
In a contest that featured eight lead changes and three tie scores, the Monks managed to secure the advantage for good with the help of a 12-1 offensive outburst midway through the second half. Freshman forward Brianne Maloney (South Portland, Maine) totaled seven points during the outbreak, which resulted in the hosts securing a 53-43 cushion with 10:48 remaining.
The Monks managed to claim a game-high 12-point lead after Cahill drained a layup off a Sarah Assante (Standish, Maine) pass, making it a 62-50 game with 5:16 left in the second half. The Bobcats would not go down easily however, as the visitors cut the margin down to seven points on several occasions in the closing minutes, but Saint Joseph's was able to hold off the visitors by breaking the full-court press.
For the Monks, Maloney scored a career-high 14 points with four rebounds and two assists, Assante played an all-around game with seven points, nine rebounds, nine assists and a pair of steals, and sophomore guard Emily Kehoe (Perkinsville, Vt.) contributed eight points and six caroms on the evening.
Freshman forward Nina Davenport (Freeport, Maine) led the Bobcats with an impressive double-double effort of 22 points and 13 rebounds while sophomore center Allie Coppola (Tarrytown, N.Y.) tallied 12 points and 15 boards and sophomore forward Bernadette Connors (Windham, N.H.) chimed in with 12 points in the losing effort.
In the opening frame, Saint Joseph's held a 10-5 lead after sophomore forward Molly Mack (Portland, Maine/McAuley) hit a pair of free throws 2:56 into the contest, but Bates fought back with a 7-2 scoring surge to knot the game at 12-apiece four minutes later. A see-saw battle ensued, as the in-state rivals proceeded to swap the lead five times before Cahill tapped in a layup to lift the hosts to a 23-22 edge with 8:07 left in the first half.
Saint Joseph's opened the second stanza holding a 39-34 lead, but the five-point cushion evaporated quickly as the Bobcats began the latter frame with an 8-2 run en route to claiming a 42-41 advantage with 17:21 left in the contest. Needing someone to provide a spark, Maloney came off the bench and did just that with her performance during the aforementioned 12-1 run.
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 14-14 in the history of the series with Bates College, a team that defeated the Monks in eight-consecutive meetings before the Royal Blue topped the Bobcats, 71-64, in Lewiston last winter. St. Joe's has now defeated Bates in back-to-back meetings for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign.
The Monks held a 34-16 advantage in points in the paint while scoring 19 points off 20 Bobcat turnovers and posting 25 assists on 27 field goals made on the evening.
Saint Joseph's returns to action tomorrow evening with a 7:00 PM contest versus non-conference foe Fisher College. Bates plays at NESCAC-rival Bowdoin College at 7:00 PM on Friday.
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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.
