BROOKLYN, N.Y. – All five starters scored in double figures and two Lady Bears recorded double-doubles as the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team captured an 87-75 triumph over Old Westbury in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.
The Lady Bears (13-10) season-high 87 points helped snap a seven-game skid to the Panthers (12-9) dating back to 2004 and St. Joseph's has now won four-of-their-last-five overall.
Senior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's Academy) scored a team-high 19 points and dished out a game-high six assists. Sophomore Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) tallied a career-high 18 points, pulled down eight boards and swatted four shots—her sixth game with four or more rejections.
Sophomore Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) recorded her 13th double-double of the season by way of 15 points and 11 caroms and senior Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) registered her second double-double with 10 points and a team-high 12 boards. It is the second time this season and in program history for two Lady Bears to record double-doubles in the same game.
Junior Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) rounded out the five with 10-or-more points adding 13 and four assists. The last time all-five starters finished with double figures was in February 2008 in a game that involved current assistant coach Annamarie Ciorciari in an 86-73 overtime win over NHTI.
Old Westbury was led by junior DeAndra Scott who posted a double-double with game highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Clarissa Gallagher contributed 14 points and five rebounds and freshman Raven Pentz chipped in nine points and four assists.
The squads traded baskets early until the Lady Bears scored six straight to build an 11-5 lead, which they wouldn't relinquish for the remainder of the half. St. Joseph's shot over 50 percent for most of the first half, taking advantage of the transition and beating the Panthers back on defense.
The Lady Bears expanded their lead to as many as 17 with five-minutes left before the break, 40-23, but the offense slowed down and Old Westbury chipped away at the deficit, closing the half on a 10-0 run to enter the lockers trailing only two, 45-43.
A Pentz triple to open the second-half scoring extended the run to 13 points unanswered and gave the Panthers their first lead of the game. The squads traded the lead four more times before St. Joseph's assembled a 14-0 run in three minutes capped by a Megan Moran (Syosset, NY/St. Dominic's) three-point play that gave the Lady Bears the lead for good and maintained their double-digit advantage for nearly the remainder of the contest.
St. Joseph's finished the game connecting on 47 percent of their attempts (30-of-64) and limited Old Westbury to a 35 percent connect rate (29-of-84).
The Lady Bears will conclude their home slate of games at Brooklyn Technical High School hosting Pine Manor College on Saturday, February 9th as part of a Senior Night doubleheader with both men's and women's basketball teams and the dance and step teams also honoring their seniors. The Lady Bears will tip-off at 5 p.m. followed by the Bears vs. Lancaster Bible at approximately 7:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on SJCBears.com with updates on Twitter via @SJCBears.