DAVIS DROPS 39 POINTS AS SAINTS EDGE MONKS
Jan. 19, 2009
STANDISH, Maine - Junior captain Iman Davis (Toms River, NJ) poured in a career-high 39 points to lead the visiting Saints to an 89-82 win over Saint Joseph's College on Monday afternoon in the Alfond Center. The game featured 20 lead changes before the Saints came out on top. With the win, Emmanuel improves to 9-6 overall and remains perfect in Great Northeast Athletic Conference play at 3-0. Saint Joe's dropped to 8-9 on the season and 1-3 in the GNAC.
Davis' 39 points was a career-high for the junior. She just missed breaking the program-record single game scoring mark of 42 points set by current Emmanuel College Assistant Coach Shawanda Brown back in 1994. Davis' shooting performance was incredible both from the field and from the line. She hit 11 of 18 (61.1%) attempts from the floor, 2 of 3 (66.7%) from behind the arc, and 15-19 (78.9%) from the free throw line, while also hauling in a team-high 8 rebounds in a solid 34 minute effort.
For Saint Joseph's, junior Carolyn Freeman (Scarborough, ME/McAuley) recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 boards in the loss. Neither team held more than a three point advantage until Emmanuel's freshman guard Breanna Ockimey (Philadelphia, PA) sank a pair of free throws to give the Saints a 20-16 lead 7:45 into the contest. The freebies were part of a 12-2 run that saw Emmanuel earn a 27-18 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the half.
The Lady Monks proved to be resilient, however, and managed to outscore the Saints by a 13-3 margin in the subsequent four minutes with the help of three pointers from sophomore Kayla Boston (North Berwick, ME) and rookie Megan McDevitt (Cumberland, ME). Freeman capped the run with a layup to put her team up, 31-30, with 7:27 to go before intermission.
McDevitt drilled another shot from downtown on the next SJC possession to put the Royal Blue up by four, but Emmanuel responded with a 9-0 surge to regain the lead, 39-34, with 3:31 left in the half. Three Saints players combined to go 6-6 from the charity stripe during the outburst. In the waning minutes of the stanza, sophomore Kayla Nowell (Bridgton, ME) made two baskets and freshman Ashley Geel (St. George, ME) hit a jumper to keep it a one-possession game, as Emmanuel led 43-40 going into the locker room.
Saint Joseph's gained momentum out of the break, posting an 11-1 run to start the second half. The surge began with a trey from Freeman and ended with a pair of free throws from junior Meghan Daigle (Grantham, NH) as the Lady Monks took a 51-44 lead with 16:58 to play. The Saints refused to go down easily and countered with yet another outburst, outscoring Saint Joseph's 13-2 in the following three minutes to take a 57-53 lead. Davis and sophomore guard Kristin LeBel (Tolland, CT) combined to score 11 points for Emmanuel during the run.
Freeman sank a shot from beyond the arc to knot the game at 57-apiece with 12:11 to play, but Emmanuel went on to maintain a lead of no more than five points for the following eight minutes. SJC junior Allison Miner (Pembroke, NH) took a pass from teammate Casey Drake (Lebanon, NH) and converted a layup to give her team a 74-73 lead with 4:03 to play and the teams swapped leads seven times in the next two minutes. The Saints, who made 33 of 39 free-throw attempts in the contest, sank 10 of 11 shots from the charity stripe in the final two minutes en route to the 89-82 victory.
For St. Joe's, Daigle was one carom shy of posting a double-double with 16 points and 9 boards and Geel added 15 points and 5 rebounds. Drake tallied 5 points and 7 assists and Miner chipped in with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
LeBel scored 21 points for the Saints and freshman guard Karin Bird (Lee, ME) netted 16 points and dished out 4 assists. Ockimey chipped in with 7 points, hitting all four of her attempts from the free throw line.
Saint Joseph's will host GNAC opponent, Albertus Magnus College, on Saturday, January 24th at 1:00 PM while the Saints will host cross-town rival, Suffolk University, on Wednesday, January 21st at 7:30 p.m.