FOURTH QUARTER RUN POWERS WILDCATS PAST SAINTS

BOSTON, Mass. - The Johnson & Wales women's basketball team outscored Emmanuel 11-1 over the final 4:24 of the fourth quarter to earn a 54-44 victory and hand the Saints their first loss in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) regular season play since February 9, 2010 vs. Emerson, ending a 68-game streak.

The Wildcats (17-2, 6-1 GNAC) scored 16 points in the final frame while holding Emmanuel (14-6, 5-1 GNAC) to just three over the last 12:10 of the game. 

Junior Bobbie Whitehead (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and sophomore Ashley Thompson (Bellingham, Mass.) both posted double-doubles to lead the way for the defending GNAC Champions. Whitehead tallied 10 points and pulled down 15 rebounds, while Thompson added 16 points and 12 boards in the winning effort. Thompson scored eight of the Wildcats' 11 points in the third quarter to keep the visitors even down the stretch.

After a strong 8-2 start for the Saints, the teams traded leads in a close first half and went into the lockerroom knotted at 27 after freshman Madison McLaughlin (Westerly, R.I.) knocked down a three before time expired.

EC controlled most of the third quarter, opening up an eight-point lead when a layup by graduate student Lena Negri (Arlington, Va.) made it 41-33 with 2:10 left. But, after a Thompson layup and a three-pointer by senior Savannah Kresge (Ellington, Conn.) cut the deficit to three points at the break, the Wildcats did not look back.

Kresge tied the game at 41 with a trey just nine seconds into the fourth quarter and after EC senior Sarah Higgins (Groveland, Mass.) reestablished the Saints' lead with a layup, JWU scored 13 straight to pull away and ice the game.

Sophomore Alisha Fox (National Park, N.J.) earned her first career start for the Saints and provided an instant jolt, scoring 12 of her 14 points in the first half. 

The Saints will look to right the ship on Saturday, January 30 when they travel to Paxton, Mass. to take on Anna Maria at 3:00 p.m. Johnson & Wales will battle Worcester State in a non-conference affair on Monday, February 1 at 7:00 p.m. in Providence, R.I.