Release courtesy of St. Joseph's College Athletics
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Led by a career- and game-high 23 points from senior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, N.Y./Mary Louis) along with double-doubles from juniors Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney), No. 4 St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team upset No. 1 Berkeley College with a wire-to-wire, 73-59, triumph over the Knights in the semifinals of the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) Tournament on Saturday evening at the CNR Wellness Center.
St. Joseph's (15-10, 4-2) makes their way to their sixth straight title game, while Berkeley (13-6, 6-0 HVIAC) has now lost in the semifinals of the tournament to the Lady Bears for the second consecutive year.
McNamee finished the night 6-of-15 from the field and went an impressive 10-of-12 from the charity stripe to record her fifth 20-plus point game this year. Raccuglia collected her fourth double-double of the season by way of 15 points and 11 rebounds, while adding a career-high-tying seven assists and three blocks to her stat line.
Retas notched her team-leading ninth double-double, finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds along with three blocks. Senior Megan Moran (Syosset, N.Y./St. Dominic's) rounds out the quartet of Lady Bears to score in double digits, concluding the night with 12 points and four rebounds.
The Knights were led by Milan Germany who had 21 points, eight rebounds and a game-high-tying seven steals.
Raccuglia opened the scoring for St. Joseph's with a jumper just over 30 seconds in and the Lady Bears would use that start to build some momentum, taking their largest lead of the half, 18-10, at the 8:58 mark after a Retas layup.
Berkeley slowly clawed its way back to get within one, 25-24, with 2:36 left before half, but was never able to claim the lead as McNamee nailed two free throws just before half to send St. Joseph's into the lockers up 27-24.
The second half saw the Lady Bears come out of the break with something to prove as they began the half on a 9-2 run to build their lead to double digits for the first time at 36-26 with 17:16 left to play. St. Joseph's ballooned the lead to as many as 19, 49-30, at the 12:43 mark and it looked like the Lady Bears were going to put it into cruise control.
The regular season champs, realizing their season was slipping away, came back with an increased intensity on defense forcing many St. Joseph's turnovers to cut the St. Joseph's lead to 64-57 with 2:38 remaining, but the Knights were not able to get any closer as the Lady Bears sealed the win at the foul line.
TURNING POINT
St. Joseph's led by as many as eight during the first half, but Berkeley was able to get within striking distance as they headed into halftime down only three, 27-24.
The Lady Bears put an end to any idea of a Knights comeback with a 22-6 run to start the half that increased their lead to 19, 49-30, with 12:43 left in the second half and they maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the frame.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Other Contributor: Jennifer Miller (7 pts, 8 reb)
- St. Joseph's shot an efficient 47.1 percent (24-of-51) for the game, including a blistering 53.8 percent (14-of-26) in the second half.
- The Lady Bears No. 1 ranked field goal percentage defense held Berkeley to 33.3 percent shooting (21-of-63) on the night.
- St. Joseph's camped out at the charity stripe going 24-of-35 (68.6 percent) compared to 12-of-25 (48.0 percent) by the Knights.
- The Lady Bears dominated the glass with a 54-28 edge.
- Despite St. Joseph's committing 24 turnovers compared to Berkeley's 11, the points off turnovers battle was tied at 16-16.
THE LADY BEAR FACTS
- The Lady Bears improve to 6-1 all-time against the Knights with the win.
- St. Joseph's clinches their third straight season with a winning record in February.
NEXT UP FOR THE LADY BEARS – New Rochelle
The Lady Bears will play The College of New Rochelle tomorrow in the HVIAC Tournament Championship at The College of New Rochelle at 4 p.m.
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Release courtesy of Berkeley College Athletics
The Berkeley College of New York women's basketball came into the 2013-2014 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as the No. 1 seed in hopes of capturing their first tournament crown in the program's young four year history. Unfortunately for the Knights, the defending champion Bears of St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn had other plans. The Bears took it to the Knights the entire evening at the Wellness Center on the campus of the College of New Rochelle, as St. Joseph's College did not trail once in the contest en route to defeating Berkeley by a score of 73-59. With the loss, Berkeley College dipped to 13-6 on the season, while the Bears upped their mark to 15-10 and stamped their ticket to the championship game of the tourney, which will take place tomorrow against the College of New Rochelle at 4:00pm.
In the first half of play, St. Joseph's College held of 8-4, 14-19, and 19-12, but every time it seemed as though the Bears were going put some distance between themselves and their opponent, the Knights kept the game close. With Berkeley trailing in the contest 23-18 with just under 3:30 remaining, junior forward Milan Germany drained a three-point basket to pull her team to within two points. Following a made jump shot by St. Joseph's senior guard Kelly McNamee, Germany would nail another triple, cutting the Bears' lead to a point at 25-24. Later on – with 19 seconds remaining in the first half – a pair of McNamee free throws would be the final points scored of the stanza, and Berkeley jogged into the locker room trailing by three points – 27-24.
The second half saw the Bears turn up the voltage, as St. Joseph's outscored Berkeley College 22-6 in the opening 7:17 of the period to take its biggest lead of the game – 19 points – at 49-30. The Knights later found themselves trailing 60-42 with 7:54 remaining in the game, and that's when they made one final push to bring themselves back into the game.
Over the ensuing 4:05 of play, the Knights would put together 12-2 run (a spurt highlighted by five points from Germany) to pull to within eight points at 62-54 with 3:49 remaining in the game. A huge converted layup by Bears junior forward Taylor Raccuglia on St. Joseph's' next possession would stop the bleeding, as the Bears once again led by double digits at 64-54. A free throw by Berkeley College junior guard Janay Thomas, and a layup by senior guard Aiyesha Brown brought the Knights to within seven points (64-57) with 2:38 to go.
Down the stretch, though, Berkeley College was unable to convert on another field goal, and the Bears outscored the Knights 9-2 to account for their 73-59 victory.
Despite the loss Berkeley, it was Germany putting together a strong performance, as she posted team-highs in points with 21 and rebounds with eight while also tallying seven steals. Brown converted on six of her nine attempts from the charity stripe and finished with 18 points and seven steals, and junior guard Janay Thomas added eight points and six rebounds.
In a winning effort for St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn, the Bears were paced by McNamee, as she netted a game-high 23 points to go along with for rebounds and three assists. Three other players scored in double figures for St. Joe's, including Raccuglia who finalized her evening with 15 points, and senior Megan Moran and junior Samantha Retas who finished with 12 points apiece.
The Bears of St. Joseph's College will now look to capture their second straight conference title, as they'll face the College of New Rochelle in the championship game of the tournament. The game will certainly have no shortage of intrigue, as the teams played a classic game against one another just three short nights ago, with the Blue Angels coming out on top by a score of 55-52. The Bears will have a chance to avenge that loss in a big way, but they'll have to do it against a red-hot New Rochelle team that will be playing the title game on its home floor in front of its passionate fans.
As for the Berkeley College women's basketball team, the Knights – who were 6-0 in HVIAC competition in the regular season and recorded its third straight campaign of double digit victories – will now hold out hope of earning a bid to the USCAA Women's Basketball National Tournament. 10 teams get invited to participate, and the Knights are hopeful that their success up to this point in the season will earn them a spot in the tourney.
