WORCESTER -- Taylor Verboven (Columbia, CT) registered a game-high 23 points to lift the Saint Joseph (CT) women's basketball team to a 61-48 come-from-behind road victory at WPI in a non-conference contest played Tuesday evening in Harrington Auditorium.
The victory keeps the Blue Jays undefeated on the season at 5-0 while the homestanding Engineers saw their three-game winning streak snapped and drop to 4-2 overall.
USJ trailed by a point after the first quarter and at halftime but limited the hosts to just 16 points in the opening 19:04 of the second half. Leading by a single point themselves early in the fourth quarter, the guests used a 16-3 spurt to transform a 39-38 advantage into a 55-41 lead with less than a minute remaining. The final minute saw WPI attempt to claw back with seven points from Emmy Allyn (Rutland, MA) but the Blue Jays drained all six of their free throw attempts in the last 40 seconds to secure the win.
The guests shot 71.4% from the floor in the final 10 minutes and was a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe.
The first quarter was played within a five-point window with both team's largest lead only two points. Verboven tallied eight points in the opening 10 minutes for the Blue Jays while Alice Kelly (Wethersfield, CT) netted seven points for the hosts, who led 14-13 at the quarter's end.
WPI took its biggest lead of the first half at 23-18 with a basket by Allyn and a 3-pointer by Ava Giansiracusa (Wethersfield, CT) on back-to-back possessions midway through the second quarter but Saint Joseph's answered back with six straight points, including four by Verboven to surge ahead in the final minute. However, the hosts regained the lead 25-24 at the break when Ava Hyams' (Kearny, NJ) layup beat the halftime buzzer.
Verboven was incredibly efficient for the USJ. The senior tallied her 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor and drew seven fouls, canning 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. The guard also gobbled up a team-best eight rebounds. She was joined in double figures in scoring by Jordan Ouellette (Bristol, CT) and Amanda Fudge (Middletown, CT). Ouellette finished with 12 points and Fudge tallied all 10 of her points in the second half.
Allyn, the reigning NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Year, continued her strong start. The rookie netted 13 points and had game-high rebounding honors with nine. Giansiracusa threw in 10 points to go along with seven boards, Ally McMorrow (Quincy, MA) contributed with 10 points and seven rebounds and Kelly amassed eight points and four boards. Point guard Shannon Reno (Millbury, MA) paced all players by doling out three assists on the night.
Both teams are now off until after Thanksgiving holiday. WPI ventures to Lewiston, Maine to visit Bates on Sunday at 3pm while the Blue Jays are off until a week from tonight when they play the middle contest of a three-game road trip, traveling to Western Connecticut for a tip-off.