BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Despite a pair of double-double efforts from Samantha Retas (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) and Janine Doran (South Ozone Park, NY/Archbishop Molloy) the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team dropped a 76-71 decision at the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, on Saturday afternoon.
St. Joseph's (6-7) falls below the .500 mark finding their two-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Falcons (10-1) who are off to the best start in school history.
Retas paced the Lady Bears with her eighth double-double of the season with 23 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds. Doran tallied her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Senior Teresa Mangan (Cleveland, OH/St. Joseph's) chipped in 14 points, six assists and five rebounds. Sophomore Taylor Raccuglia (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) posted another near double-double in her second start with a career-high 13 rebounds and eight points.
The Falcons we led by junior Lianna Carrero who had 23 points, 21 coming in the second half, including her 1,000th career point. Sophomore guard Annie Sutila added 19 points, including four trifectas and Annie Raucci finished with a 14-point, 13-rebound double-double.
The game was a back-and-forth affair that saw 12 ties and six lead changes. After a Retas layup at the 7:16 mark brought about the seventh tie of the first half, the Falcons opened up a 10-point lead with a 14-4 run over four minutes and carried it into a 42-32 lead at intermission.
St. Joseph's raced out of the gates to open the second stanza with a 7-0 run on a Mangan trifecta, Doran layup and Kelly McNamee (Glendale, NY/Mary Louis) jumper. The teams traded baskets until another 8-0 spurt led by a McNamee layup followed by three straight baskets from Retas, gave St. Joseph's their first lead, 56-53, with 12:19 to play.
The Lady Bears held a 67-63 advantage with a Retas layup at the 7:06 mark that gave her sixth game out of the last seven with 20-plus points. But a 6-0 run gave the Falcons a 69-67 lead and the Lady Bears wouldn't hold the lead again.
Both teams would go blow-for-blow and after the game was deadlocked 71-71 with 46 ticks on the clock, a three-point play from Carrero helped seal the Lady Bears fate.
With Mangan, the Lady Bears top three-point shooter fouled out, and the game played from the NBA three-point line, St. Joseph's managed a good look at a midrange jumper that wouldn't fall and Albertus secured the rebound and made both free throws in the bonus for the final outcome.
The Lady Bears won the battle on the glass 62-49 and passed the ball well for 24 assists on 30 field goals. The Falcons were opportunistic from the line making 20-of-21 and 15-of-16 in the second half.
St. Joseph's returns to the hardwood on Wednesday, January 9 hosting perennial USCAA rivals Briarcliffe College. Tip-off at Brooklyn Technical High School is set for 7:30 p.m. Live video and stats will be available at SJCBears.com.