PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC TIRRELL
STANDISH, Maine – #2 Saint Joseph's College (19-8) defeated #3 Regis College (15-12), 55-53, in a thrilling Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Basketball Tournament semifinal at the Harold Alfond Center on Thursday evening.
With the win, Saint Joseph's advances to the GNAC Championship for the fifth-consecutive season and will play at top-seeded Emmanuel College in the title bout on Saturday at 1:00 PM. The GNAC winner earns an automatic berth into the NCAA DIII Tournament, which begins on Friday, March 6th.
For Regis, the loss signals the end of the 2019-20 campaign.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Going into the fourth quarter, the Monks trailed by three (46-43) but claimed their first lead since the opening minutes when freshman Bri Jordan (Gray, Maine) capped a 6-0 surge with a layup and 8:36 left to play. The lead changed hands four times with the last swap favoring Saint Joseph's, as senior guard Julia Quinn (Fryeburg, Maine) drilled a three-pointer to put her team up 52-51 with 4:42 remaining.
Senior forward Lexi L'Heureux-Carland (Bridgton, Maine) provided the Monks with much-needed breathing room by making a layup at the 3:46 mark before Regis sophomore forward Arie Searcy (Santa Rosa, Calif.) hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe to make it a one-point game with 37 seconds to play. On the Monks' following possession, Jordan was fouled and hit one freebie to again make it a two-point contest. With 10 seconds left, the Pride had one last chance to pull off the upset but a last-second shot was off the mark.
The Monks struggled with the Pride full-court press in the first quarter, as Regis forced seven SJC turnovers and held St. Joe's to just eight shots from the floor en route to securing a 22-10 lead through 10 minutes of play. Regis freshman guard Pam Gonzalez (Revere, Mass.) scored 15 of her team's 22 points in the first frame. The Pride led by as many as 15 points in the opening quarter.
Saint Joseph's fared better with the Pride press in the second quarter and saw L'Heureux-Carland score nine points in just five minutes to help the hosts outscore the visitors by a 23-17 margin in the stanza and cut the deficit to 39-33 at the half.
STATS OF THE GAME:
Saint Joseph's held a 24-11 advantage in bench points and a 22-16 lead in points in the paint…The Pride made just four of 28 shot attempts (14.3%) from the floor in the second half.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Quinn paced the Monks with 14 points and was 3-for-6 from three-point range
- L'Heureux-Carland came off the bench to score 11 points off a 5-for-8 shooting effort with three boards in just 15 minutes
- Junior guard Cassandra Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) scored eight points with three rebounds
- Sophomore guard Grace Philippon (Glenburn, Maine) chipped in with six points, three rebounds, and a pair of steals
LEADERS – REGIS:
- Gonzalez led all scorers with 23 points and added seven caroms, five steals, and four assists
- Taylor Iorfino netted 10 points with six rebounds and a pair of assists
- Searcy added seven points, six boards, and two steals
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 5-1 in the history of the series with Regis College and has now defeated the Pride in five-consecutive meetings.
