STANDISH, Maine – Regis College could not put together a consistent offensive attack Saturday, as Saint Joseph's College pulled away for a 62-46 victory in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's basketball game at the Harold Alfond Center.
Despite the loss, Regis still finished in a tie for third place in the GNAC regular season standings at 8-3 and earned the third seed in next week's GNAC Tournament based on tiebreakers. The Pride will host sixth seed Colby-Sawyer College Tuesday, Feb. 25, starting at 6 p.m. in a quarterfinal matchup.
Katryna Veasey (Quincy, Mass.) led the Pride with 11 points and three blocked shots, plus she pulled down seven rebounds. Pam Gonzalez (Revere, Mass.) finished with nine points, six rebounds, two assists, and three steals, while Arie Searcy (Santa Rosa, Calif.) also scored nine points to go along with five rebounds and Nikki Bitinaitis (Cromwell, Conn.) pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.
Lexi L'Heureux-Carland scored the first four points of the game as Saint Joseph's jumped out to a 9-2 lead, capped by a three-pointer from Julia Quinn. Mackenzie Emery (Standish, Maine) answered with her own three-pointer, but the Monks kept the Pride at arm's length, ending the first quarter with a 15-9 lead.
Veasey opened the second quarter with consecutive baskets to bring the Pride within two, but Bri Jordan responded with back-to-back layups to extend the Monk lead back to six at 19-13. Shannon Kelley (Quincy, Mass.) capped an 8-3 Regis scoring run with a free throw to close the Pride deficit to one at 22-21, but a layup by Quinn and a three-pointer from Cassandra Stapelfeld brought the momentum back to St. Joe's, as the Monks took a 31-27 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Saint Joseph's scored the first six points of the second half to increase its lead into double digits, and then the Monks quickly answered a traditional three-point play from Searcy with six unanswered points to open a 43-30 advantage. Veasey and Gonzalez scored four points each as the Pride went on an 8-0 scoring stretch, but that was stopped by a three-pointer from Quinn as St. Joe's maintained a 48-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Monks put the game away by holding Regis scoreless through the first 5:40 of the fourth period while collecting seven straight points. A three-pointer by Gonzalez brought the Pride within 10 at 55-45 with four minutes remaining in regulation, but that would be Regis' final field goal of the game as the home team closed out the contest on a 7-1 scoring run.
Quinn led all players in the game with 20 points, and Stapelfeld finished with 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Jordan contributed seven points, nine rebounds, two assists, and two blocked shots off the bench as the Monks shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field, including 5-of-17 from behind the three-point line, and 73.3 percent (11-of-15) from the free throw line.
As a team, the Pride shot just 25.8 percent (17-of-66) from the field, but they did hit 81.8 percent (9-of-11) of their free throw attempts. The Monks enjoyed a slight rebounding edge, 43-39, but they did commit 15 turnovers leading to 11 Regis points, while the Pride turned the ball over 11 times leading to 13 Monk points.
Regis will face Colby-Sawyer for the second time in three weeks, as the Pride defeated the Chargers at Higgins Court Feb. 4, 54-51. The semifinals of the GNAC Tournament will take place Thursday, Feb. 27, followed by the championship game Saturday, Feb. 29.