Release courtesy of Berkeley College Athletics

The Berkeley College women's basketball team picked up a hard-fought victory on Saturday evening, turning back the Bears of St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) in a Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game by a score of 57-54 at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in Lower Manhattan. The win marked the first time in program history that the Knights defeated the Bears during the regular season – and with that – the Knights improved their overall record to 10-3, while staying perfect with a 4-0 unblemished mark in HVIAC play. St. Joseph's fell to 9-8 on the 2013-2014 campaign, and 1-1 in conference action.

In what turned out to be a roller coaster evening for the Knights, Berkeley College took a 13-point first half lead, relinquished that lead late in the second session, and then scoring the final seven points of regulation to hold on for a thrilling three-point win.

The Knights appeared to be in full control of the contest in the early stages, leading 21-8 with 6:30 remaining in the first half. The Bears spent a good portion of the game battling back, eventually taking the lead – 49-48 – thanks to a layup by senior forward Megan Moran with 4:11 left in the game. Following a converted jump shot by sophomore guard Tierra Williams that gave Berkeley the lead, St. Joseph's scored five straight points, thanks to a layup and a free throw by Moran, and a layup by senior guard Kelly McNamee. With 2:52 remaining in regulation, the Bears held a 54-50 lead.

From there, it was all Knights, as Berkeley College scored the next seven points of the game (including a three-point basket by senior guard Aiyesha Brown, a jumper by junior forward Patricia Patterson, and a pair of free throws by junior guard Janay Thomas) and didn't allow a Bears field goal the rest of the way. St. Joseph's College had one final chance to tie the game, but junior forward Samantha Retas misfired on a three-point basket as time expired.

Leading the way for Berkeley College in its victory was Thomas, as she scored a team-high 16 points to go along with six assists and four rebounds. Junior forward Milan Germany added a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and four blocks, and Brown netted 13 points and snatched six boards.

Despite the loss for St. Joseph's College, it was Moran putting forth a strong effort as she scored a game-high 20 points to go along with four rebounds. Junior forward Taylor Raccuglia netted 14 points and grabbed nine boards, and Retas added nine points, 14 caroms, six assists, four steals, and two blocks.

The teams shot identically from the floor, as both squads connected on 34.5 percent of their shots (Berkeley 19-55, St. Joseph's 20-58). The Knights held a slight 42-41 edge on the glass, while also tallying 10 steals to the Bears' eight. St. Joseph's dished 15 assists to Berkeley's 12, and the Bears also won the turnover battle, committing 19 miscues to the Knights' 20.

The Knights will return to action on Monday evening as they take to the road to battle the Cardinals of York College in a non-conference contest. Start-time is scheduled for 6:00pm.

# # #

Release courtesy of St. Joseph's College Athletics

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Despite a game-high 20 points from senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's), the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team could not overcome a ten-point halftime deficit as they suffered a 57-54 setback to Berkeley College on Saturday night in a battle of Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) unbeatens at Borough of Manhattan Community College.

St. Joseph's (9-8, 1-1 HVIAC) drops their first conference game of the season and has lost three of their last four games, while Berkeley (10-3, 4-0) has now won six of their last seven games and with a win in one of their two final league games the Knights will clinch their first ever regular season title.

Moran continued her strong performance over the last five games, scoring in double figures for the fifth straight game on an efficient 9-of-18 (50 percent) shooting night. Adding contributions was junior Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) who had 14 points and nine rebounds.

Junior Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) had a strong all-around game for the Lady Bears, scoring nine points while corralling a game-high 14 rebounds. The forward also added a career-high-tying six assists and came up with four steals.

Leading Berkeley was Janay Thomas who had a team-high 16 points, while two-time HVIAC Player of the Week Milan Germany recorded a double-double, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The opening stanza saw St. Joseph's trail the entire half as they struggled from the field, shooting 24.0 percent (6-of-25) in the opening period. The Lady Bears defense held its own in the first half limiting the Knights to 28.1 percent (9-of-32) shooting but Berkeley headed into the locker rooms up 10, 28-18, helped by five trifectas in the first half compared to zero for St. Joseph's.

Both teams came out of the break and picked up their play as each team improved on their shooting numbers in the second half. The Lady Bears got on the board 14 seconds into the second half on a trey by Retas, cutting the deficit to single digits, 28-21, after St. Joseph's had trailed by as many as 13 in the opening frame.

After Germany nailed a triple to up the Berkeley lead back to 10, 31-21, at the 17:44 mark in the second half, the Lady Bears would start their furious comeback going on an 18-10 run over the next six minutes to get within two, 41-39, with 11 minutes left to play, the closest they had been since it was 5-3 at the 17:26 mark of the first half.

The Knights increased the lead back to five before St. Joseph's rolled off another run, this time an 11-2 spurt that gave them their largest lead of the game at 54-50 with 2:52 left to play. However, Berkeley came right back with a three-pointer and a jumper to take back the lead for good as the Lady Bears comeback bid came up short.

TURNING POINT

After Thomas made two free throws for the Knights to put them up 48-43 with 5:35 left to play, St. Joseph's would go on a 11-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 54-50 lead with 2:52 left to play. Moran had seven of the 11 points, connecting on a pair of layups, a jump shot and a free throw to help lead the Lady Bears back.

McNamee capped off the spurt with a layup and it looked like St. Joseph's was going to finish off the comeback, but the Knights had other ideas scoring five unanswered to take back the lead for good at 55-54 with 1:14 left to play. Berkeley would add a pair of free throws and kept the Lady Bears off the board for the last 2:52 to seal the win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Other contributor: Kelly McNamee (7 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl)
• Both teams shot an identical 34.5 percent from the field as the Lady Bears went 20-of-58 while the Knights finished 19-of-55 from the floor.
• The biggest disparity of the contest came from beyond the arc where Berkeley connected on 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) compared to 2-of-7 (28.6 percent) by St. Joseph's.
• The two teams were nearly even on the glass with the Knights holding a 42-41 edge.
• The Lady Bears held their own in the paint claiming a 22-12 edge in points in the paint.
• Berkeley won the bench battle maintaining a 13-0 margin in bench points.

THE LADY BEAR FACTS

• St. Joseph's falls to Berkeley for the first time ever in six all-time meeting dating back to 2011.
• Moran has scored 20+ points in two of her last three games after having never reached the 20-point plateau in her career prior to the Lady Bears game against CCNY.

NEXT UP FOR THE LADY BEARS

St. Joseph's returns to action on Monday, January 27th, facing Vaughn College in another HVIAC road matchup at 7:30 p.m.