Led by Lianna Carrero (Hamden, Conn.), who scored 23 points, including the 1,000th of her career, the Albertus Magnus women's basketball team stunned St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn 76-71 at the Barclays Center, home of the Nets, on Saturday afternoon.
Carrero scored her 1,000th point at the 7:08 mark of today's contest on a free throw to become the 10th all-time Albertus Magnus women's basketball to reach that coveted milestone. She now has 1,003 career points as she entered the day needing 20 to hit the plateau.
Albertus improves to 10-1 on the year with the win over 2012 NCAA Tournament participant St. Joseph's College. The loss gives the Lady Bears their seventh of the season as they fall to 6-7 on the year.
Annie Sutila (Bridgeport, Conn.) also had a stellar outing as she scored a career-high 19 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor.
The first half saw seven tied scores and two lead changes as the Falcons led by 10 at the half.
Sutila hit a long NBA three-pointer to give the Falcons a 16-13 lead before Albertus extended its lead to 20-13 on a Chelsea Sherrod (Bridgeport, Conn.) lay-up. The Lady Bears battled back, scoring six unanswered points, to cut the Falcons' lead to one at 20-19 before tying the game at 22 apiece.
Sutila hit back-to-back NBA threes to break the tie as the Falcons took a 28-22 lead with five minutes to go in the opening frame. The Falcons took a 10-point lead as Olivia Sutherland (Wallingford, Conn.) hit four-straight free throws to make the score 36-26.
At the break, Albertus led 42-32 as Sutila registered 12 points off the bench on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the NBA arc. Sutherland and junior Annie Raucci (Milford, Conn.) both added eight points for the Falcons as well. Raucci finished the afternoon with 14 points and 13 rebounds, including 10 on the defensive end.
The Lady Bears opened the second half on a 7-0 run to cut the Falcons' lead to three before a Raucci lay-up at the 18:22 mark of the frame. St. Joseph's took its first lead of the second half at 54-53 with less than 13 minutes of the clock. The second half went back-and-forth before the Falcons earned the lead for good.
Carrero scored 21second-half points with an 11-of-11 showing from the free-throw line.
With the score tied at 69 with two minutes left on the clock, Sutila hit two free throws to give the Falcons a two-point lead. The Lady Bears tied the game at 71 on two free throws before Carrero completed a three-point play to give the Falcons a 74-71 advantage.
Albertus scored 20 points off 19 Bears' turnovers, while 35 of the Falcons' 76 points came off the bench.
The Falcons return to action on Saturday, Jan. 12 with their Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener at nationally-ranked Emmanuel College in Boston.