SAINTS FALL IN GNAC TITLE GAME TO SAINT JOSEPH'S, 66-62

STANDISH, Maine – Top-seeded Saint Joseph's College (23-5) edged #3 Emmanuel College (21-7), 66-62, in the 2016 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Women's Basketball Championship at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, Saint Joseph's earns the GNAC's automatic qualifier into the 2016 NCAA DIII Women's Basketball National Tournament. The tourney bracket will be announced on Monday afternoon and the first round kicks off on Friday, March 4th.

A thrilling game from start to finish, the conference championship certainly lived up to its billing as the contest was not decided until Saint Joseph's freshman guard Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) sank a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds remaining.

The evenly matched conference rivals swapped leads on 13 occasions and played through five tie scores in front of an enthusiastic crowd, which featured solid representation for both programs, and neither squad held a lead greater than seven points on the afternoon. The title bout featured a handful of turning points for both programs, but perhaps the most significant pair of possessions took place midway through the second quarter.

With the game tied 14-14 with 9:12 left in the second stanza, the Saints looked to assume control over the next three minutes by producing an 8-2 run while forcing four SJC turnovers. Trailing 22-16, SJC sophomore forward Brianne Maloney (South Portland, Maine) forced an Emmanuel turnover by taking a charge on a Jen Chalk (Horseheads, N.Y.) drive at the 5:00 minute mark. Maloney's selfless play began to turn the tide for the hosts and the following play, a shot-clock beater from near midcourt by freshman guard Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.), tipped momentum in the Monks' favor and ignited a 14-5 St. Joe's run, which led to a 32-31 SJC lead at the break.

The Saints led for the better part of the third quarter and held a 47-41 cushion after sophomore guard Ryan Maynard (Bowie, Md.) netted a three-pointer with 3:35 left in the period. But the Emmanuel shooters went cold for the subsequent seven minutes, as six different Saints combined to go 0-9 from the floor. In the meantime, Saint Joseph's posted a 13-1 run, which was closed out by a Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) layup with the Monks leading 54-48 with 6:40 left in the game.

A pair of turnovers during a 25-second stretch, with less than two minutes remaining, nearly derailed the Monks' title hopes as the Saints netted five quick points off the miscues, including a Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) three-pointer that knotted the game, 60-60, with 1:14 left in regulation.

McNamara hit a pair of freebies eight seconds later to put the Monks back on top, 62-60, and another huge defensive play followed as Champagne took the brunt of an offensive foul – resulting in a costly turnover - on the Saints' next possession. The impact of the play hurt the Saints on several levels, as the infraction was the fifth of the afternoon for forward Lena Negri (Arlington, Va.), who exited the game with a game-high 23 points and 12 rebounds.

With the Monks up 62-60 with 26 seconds left, McNamara lost the ball, out of bounds, on a drive attempt but quickly made up for the mistake on the other end when she picked off a pass in the paint, was fouled, and converted both free throws to make it a 64-60 game with 11 seconds on the clock.

With three seconds left, Chalk made an easy layup to cut the Saints' deficit down to 64-62, but Champagne was quickly fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and sank both from the line to put the game out of reach.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S

•       McNamara, selected as the 2016 GNAC Tournament MVP, tallied 20 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three steals and went 6-6 from the FT line

•       Cahill notched the 35th double-double of her career with 12 points and 13 rebounds

•       Freshman forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) registered 11 points and eight boards

•       The box score does not fully represent the effort put forth by Maloney, who netted nine points with two caroms and a pair of assists off the bench

•       Junior guard Emily Kehoe (Perkinsville, Vt.) scored five points

LEADERS – EMMANUEL

•       Negri was 8-19 from the field and 7-9 from the line with 23 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and two steals

•       Higgins scored 14 points with three boards and a pair of steals

•       Chalk also netted 14 with three dimes and a pair of caroms

TEAM STATS

Saint Joseph's shot 42.6% (23-54) from the floor, 25% (3-12) from three-point land, and 81% (17-21) from the free throw line while Emmanuel posted performances of 36.4% (24-66), 20% (2-10), and 70.6% (12-17) from the field, beyond the arc, and the charity stripe.

The Monks held the lead in rebounds (43-34), second-chance points (10-8), points in the paint (28-22), and bench points (16-9) in the victory. The Saints maintained advantages in turnovers (11-21) and points off turnovers (20-12) in the losing bid. Both teams earned credit for 21 assists.

NOTEWORTHY

Saint Joseph's has now claimed the GNAC title in two of the last three seasons…for Emmanuel, today's championship loss is the Saints' third in 18 GNAC Championship appearances and marks the first time since 1995 (when the GNAC formed as a conference) the program has lost in the conference championship in consecutive seasons - Johnson & Wales University defeated Emmanuel in the 2015 title game…with three blocked shots in today's win, Cahill broke the Monks' single-season record formerly held by Mary Lou Kimball '89, who rejected 62 shots during the 1988-89 campaign.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

MVP – Kelsi McNamara, Saint Joseph's
Morgan Cahill, Saint Joseph's
Emily Benway, Saint Joseph's
Lena Negri, Emmanuel
Sarah Higgins, Emmanuel
Savannah Kresge, Johnson & Wales
Alexandra Clarke, Suffolk

*Release courtesy of Saint Joseph's College (ME) Sports Information Dept.