No. 4 Saints Head North to Familiar Foe, No. 1 Saint Joseph's (ME), For GNAC Semifinal

BOSTON – The No. 4 seed Emmanuel women's basketball is back in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Semifinals for a ninth consecutive season, preparing to square off with a familiar foe in the No. 1 seed Saint Joseph's College Monks on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. on McDevitt Court.

The Saints reached Thursday's semifinal thanks to an 87-62 win over the No. 5 seed Lasell Lasers on Tuesday night. The 25-point victory was the highest margin of victory among the four teams that advanced to the next round. The Monks are back in the GNAC semifinals for the eighth straight season after defeating the No. 8 seed Rivier Raiders on Tuesday, 74-64.

Emmanuel enters Thursday night with the momentum of five straight wins, dating back to the regular season, to go along with victories in six of their last seven games. The Saints win on Tuesday moved them to 15-11 for the year.

Saint Joseph's has the second-longest active winning streak in the GNAC at 10 straight victories. The Monks have not lost since Jan. 16 at home to Bates. That loss marks the only defeat in 2024 for Saint Joseph's as they are 13-1 since the new year. After starting the season 6-6, the Monks have steadied to a 19-7 overall record.

A Quarterfinal round win for all the top seeds has Emmanuel on the road for the rest of the GNAC Postseason. It's a familiar scenario for the Saints from last season, as they won their Quarterfinal home game on Yosinoff Court before hitting the road for a semifinal win to reach the GNAC Championship Game.

Senior Olivia Matela (Swampscott, Mass.) leads the Saints offense this season, averaging 13.4 points per game. The senior guard has found her range in the last three weeks, averaging 16.3 points in her last eight games, including four with at least 22 points.

Junior Paris Atuahene (Phoenix, Ariz.) contributes all over the court for the Saints, averaging 10.7 points, 4.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game. Emmanuel's starting point guard ranks second in the GNAC in assists and fourth in free throw percentage this season.

First-year Meagan Schuermann (Cooperstown, N.Y.) has made the most of her 19.7 minutes per game, averaging 10.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Senior Kiera Eubanks (Portland, Maine) averages 9.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game for the Saints. Eubanks adds an efficient 54.6 percent shooting, good for third-best in the conference.

Monks senior Angelica Hurley (Groveland, Mass.) leads the team in scoring this season, averaging 14.8 points per game. Hurley leads the program in three-point shooting, making 2.2 per game while shooting a team-best 34.3 percent. The senior forward adds 7.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

Sophomore Grace Ramsdell (Wells, Maine) averages 14.1 points and a team-best 8.2 rebounds per game this season. Ramsdell is one of two Monks to shoot at least 45 percent from the floor, making 47.8 percent of her shots on the year.

Sophomore Elisabeth Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) is the most efficient of the Saint Joseph's shooters at 49.2 percent from the floor. The second-year guard adds 9.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

The Saints and Monks last faced off on Feb. 7 at Mike McDevitt Court, the only loss for the Saints in their last seven games. Saint Joseph's held the Saints to 36.7 percent shooting and 48 points, the third-lowest output by the Saints offense in 2023-24.

A decisive third quarter in the Monks victory proved to make the difference on Feb. 7. Saint Joseph's led by two at the half but a 20-6 third quarter advantage gave the Monks plenty of breathing room in their 64-48 win.

Ramsdell had a game-high 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds in 34 minutes. Hurley scored 16 points, including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc, along with a game-high 13 rebounds. As a team, the Monks shot 10-for-22 from three-point range for a season-best 45.5 percent.

Eubanks scored a season-high 17 points to go with 12 rebounds in a game-high 39 minutes. Schuermann finished with 11 points and five rebounds in the loss.

Thursday will be the 35^th all-time meeting between the Saints and Monks, dating back to their first-ever meeting in 1984. Emmanuel holds a 24-10 record in the series. Thursday will also mark the eighth time the Saints and Monks have met in the postseason and the first time in a semifinal game. The Saints are 4-3 in the seven postseason meetings.

The winner on Thursday night heads back into the GNAC Championship Game on Saturday, Feb. 24, to face the winner of the No. 2 seeded University of Saint Joseph Blue Jays and the No. 3 seeded Albertus Magnus College Falcons.

A win for the Saints has them on the road for Saturday's Championship while a Monks victory would send one of the Connecticut GNAC schools to Standish, Maine, for the GNAC Title Game.