SAINTS SOAR PAST FALCONS ON SENIOR DAY, 85-56

BOSTON, Mass. – The Emmanuel College women's basketball team soared past Albertus Magnus College, 85-56, Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action at the Andy Yosinoff Court. The Saints improve to 17-7 overall and 13-2 in the GNAC while the loss dips the Falcons to 12-11 and 7-7.

Prior to the start of the contest, the Emmanuel Athletic Department honored its four senior members of the program in a brief senior day ceremony. The Saints recognized team manager Peter Donato along with senior tri-captains Jen Chalk (Horseheads, N.Y.), Olivia Marks (Canterbury, Conn.) and Alexis Ezell (Acworth, Ga.) in the ceremony.

In true senior fashion, the trio combined for 36 points led by a team-high of 19 from Chalk to lead the way for the hosts. Junior guard Alisha Fox (National Park, N.J.) added 16 points on a 6-for-7 shooting performance.

Junior forward Olivia Bolden (South Windsor, Conn.) paced Albertus Magnus with a game-high 21 points and nine rebounds while junior guard Angelina Piccirillo (Naugatuck, Conn.) added 14 points.

The Falcons came out of the gates strong as Piccirillo drained a deep three on her first attempt from the field to put the visitors on top 3-2 in the opening minute of play. After trading hoops, EC sophomore guard Olivia Dalphonse (Buxton, Maine) netted a three of her own to pull the Saints on top, 7-5 with under eight minutes to play in the quarter. Piccirillo evened the score at 9-9 with her second three of the quarter with 5:50 left in the stanza before Emmanuel rattled off an 11-0 run to take the lead for good. Fox capped the flurry with a layup to make it 20-9 with 2:22 remaining in the first before Bolden broke the drought with one of two free throws to make it a 10 point game at 20-10. EC outscored the Falcons 5-3 over the final 90 seconds of the frame to take a 25-13 lead into the second frame.

In the second quarter, the Saints put up 25 points for the second straight period to extend their lead to 50-32 at halftime. EC shot an impressive 63.3 % from the field in the half including 4-for-6 from long range compared to just 33.3% from the floor by the Falcons.

Albertus Magnus was unable to mount a serious comeback in the third but a three by Liz Falcigno (Wallingford, Conn.) cut the Emmanuel lead to 15 (56-41) with less than five minutes to play in the quarter. It was the closest the Falcons would get as Emmanuel answered with a 14-2 run to close the quarter to put the game out of reach at 70-43 heading into the final quarter.

Emmanuel outscored the Falcons 15-13 in the final period, cruising to an 85-56 win.

The Saints are idle until next Saturday, February 18 when they take on Suffolk University in the final game of the regular-season. The winner of that contest will earn the No. 1 seed in the GNAC South Division heading into the 2017 GNAC tournament. Albertus Magnus is back in action on Tuesday, February 14 on the road at University of Saint Joseph (CT) at 7:00 PM.