Saints Run Ends in GNAC Semifinals With 70-64 Loss at Saint Joseph's (ME)

STANDISH, Maine – In a tie game with 40.8 seconds remaining, the Saint Joseph's College Monks scored the final six points on Thursday night and will return to the conference championship to defend their title, following a 70-64 victory over the Emmanuel Saints in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Semifinals at Mike McDevitt Court.

Thursday's thriller is the fifth straight postseason that Emmanuel and Saint Joseph's have met but the first time in the GNAC Semifinals. After falling in the first three meetings, the Monks have won the last two, including the GNAC Title Game last year and tonight's semifinal.

The final 40.8 seconds were the deciding moments of Thursday's semifinal as the Saints and Monks were deadlocked at 64-64. The Monks possession started with a drive right by senior Angelica Hurley (Groveland, Mass.) and kickout pass to the right wing to senior Nina Howe (York, Maine).

Howe drove left, inside the three-point line, creating space for another senior, Hailey Anderson (Beverly, Mass.), at the top of the three-point arc. Howe's pass was on point as Anderson, all in one motion, fired from 23 feet away and found nothing but net, giving the Monks a 67-64 edge with 28.4 remaining.

On the ensuing Saints possession, a bad pass resulted in an Emmanuel turnover, giving the ball back to the Monks with 18.2 seconds to go.

Anderson was fouled on the inbounds pass and went to the line for a pair of free throws. The senior guard, a 75 percent foul shooter on the season, knocked down both attempts, giving the Monks a five-point lead with 17.3 seconds.

The Saints committed the last of its turnovers on their final possession of the night, as a pass into the paint was deflected by Hurley, sealing the victory for the Monks. Sophomore Elisabeth Staplefeld (Brookline, N.H.) made 1-of-2 at the line, finishing the 6-0 run in the final 40.8 seconds.

The fourth quarter was nothing short of an instant classic, befitting two of the GNACs top programs and familiar foes in the chase for the GNAC Championship.

Emmanuel's fight to get into position to pull the upset required coming back from as many as 17 and not holding the lead until a three-point shot from senior Olivia Matela (Swampscott, Mass.) with 8:43 remaining in the game.

Any shot Emmanuel threw at Saint Joseph's was answered by the Monks while any momentum gathered by the home side was quickly extinguished by the visiting Saints. The Monks looked poised to pull away, retaking a four-point lead with 6:17 to go, but the Saints used a 10-3 run in a span of 3:50 to hold their largest lead of the night, 63-60, with 2:27 left.

Thursday's GNAC semifinal could have been entirely different for the Saints if not for a 12-1 spree to end the first half that took the visitors from down 17 to trailing 37-31 at the half. Junior Paris Atuahene (Phoenix, Ariz.) scored eight points in the run while Matela chipped in with the other four, as Emmanuel shot 5-for-8 from the floor in the run to pull back within a half-dozen.

As they did in the regular season matchup against the Saints, shooting a season-best 45.5 percent from three-point land, the Monks outdid that mark tonight, shooting 52 percent from deep while making a season-high 13 three-point shots.

Monks sophomore Grace Ramsdell (Wells, Maine) scored a game-high 20 points to go with six rebounds in 29 minutes. Hurley added 15 points, including 4-for-10 shooting from distance, and a game-high nine rebounds. Staplefeld and Anderson chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Matela led the Saints with 12 points and three steals, shooting 5-of-11 in a game-high 36 minutes. First-year Meagan Schuermann (Cooperstown, N.Y.) finished with 11 points in 24 minutes off the Saints bench. Senior Kiera Eubanks (Portland, Maine) added 10 points, five rebounds, and two blocks.

The Monks season continues, improving to 20-7 overall this season following their 11^th straight win. Saint Joseph's College hosts the GNAC Championship on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 1:00 p.m. on Mike McDevitt Court against the No. 2 seeded University of Saint Joseph Blue Jays.

For the Saints, their season comes to a close at 15-12 overall as their five-game winning streak ends with tonight's defeat.