WATERVILLE, Maine – Senior Julia Quinn (Fryeburg, Maine) led five players in double digits with 16 points to help Saint Joseph's College (5-2) defeat Colby College (3-4), 85-73, in a non-conference women's basketball game on Thursday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
With the game tied at 31-apiece at the start of the third quarter, Colby mounted a 13-3 run which was capped by an Alisha Aube (Westbrook, Maine) three-pointer with the hosts ahead by 10 (44-34) with 6:08 remaining in the penultimate period. Over the subsequent two minutes, St. Joe's responded with nine unanswered points, a stretch that included a pair of threes from Quinn and cut the visitors' deficit down to 44-43.
The Mules held a 55-53 edge after the teams essentially swapped scores for the remainder of the third frame and jumped out to a five-point margin when Brooke Guiffre (Wellesley, Mass.) drilled a shot from downtown 29 seconds into the fourth quarter. The Monks went on to score seven straight points over 90 seconds to claim their first lead, 60-58, since late in the second stanza and the matchup stood at a 65-65 stalemate after Ainsley Burns (Barrington, R.I.) connected for a three-pointer with 6:25 on the clock.
Saint Joseph's was able to put the game away with what was perhaps the team's most impressive run of the season thus far, as the Royal Blue posted a 16-3 surge that included a 7-for-7 free-throw shooting effort and saw the Monks claim an 81-68 cushion with 48 seconds left. The SJC defense held the Colby offense to just 1-for-8 shooting from the floor, including an 0-for-4 line from downtown, during the late run that elapsed nearly five minutes.
STATS OF THE GAME:
The Monks tied the program's single-game record by making 57.9% (11-19) of their three-point attempts in the victory – SJC posted the exact same line in a win at Occidental College on December 30th, 2018…St. Joe's went 24-for-31 (77.4%) from the FT line while Colby was 10-for-16 (62.5%) from the charity stripe…The Monks also held advantages in points in the paint (26-12) and bench points (28-20) and committed a season-low 11 turnovers in the victory…Saint Joseph's scored 32 points in the fourth quarter, the most netted by the team in any quarter so far this season.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Quinn was 5-for-7 from the field, including a 3-for-4 effort from three-point range, with four rebounds and a pair of assists; her 16 points in tonight's win is a career high
- Junior Cassandra Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) was 5-for-5 from the FT line with 14 points
- Sophomore Alyson Fillion (Bedford, N.H.) added 13 points, six rebounds, and two assists
- Junior Jordan Jabar (Waterville, Maine) contributed 11 points, five rebounds, and four assists
- Freshman Bri Jordan (Gray, Maine) came off the bench to score 10 points with five rebounds
- Freshman Jayne Howe (Pembroke, Mass.) tallied nine points, four boards, four assists, and two steals
- Sophomore Kaleigh Walsh (Windham, N.H.) chipped in with nine points and four rebounds in 11 minutes
LEADERS – COLBY:
- Burns led all players with 19 points and added four boards and three assists
- Aube netted 15 with four rebounds and three assists
- Guiffre and Keagan Dunbar (Middlebury, Vt.) scored 11 points apiece
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
Saint Joseph's improves to 15-14 all-time versus Colby College and has now defeated the Mules in five-consecutive meetings, the Monks' longest winning streak in the history of the series.
NEXT!
The Monks are back on the road on Saturday with a game in Lewiston versus Bates College (2:00 PM).
