NEW ROCHELLE, NY – In a historic night at the Wellness Center, The College of New Rochelle ended a 13 year drought against St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn, moved into a tie for second place in the HVIAC final regular season standings, and junior Alyssa Pechin became just the fourth Blue Angel to reach the 1,000 career point milestone as CNR posted a 55-52 win over the Lady Bears.
Pechin reached the career plateau with a three pointer with under 1:00 to play in the first half, adding a new name to the Blue Angels' prestigious 1,000 point club for the first time since 1986. She ended with 11 points for the game, raising her career total to 1,004.
The win over the Lady Bears snapped a 16 win skein that dated back to January 17, 2000, the last time CNR posted a win over their conference rival. The all-time series now stands at 17-6 in favor of the Lady Bears.
The win sets up a three-way tie between St. Joseph's, CNR, and Albany Pharmacy for second place in the HVIAC standings, and tie-breakers will decide seeding at this weekend's HVIAC Tournament Championship.
For the second straight game, the Blue Angels got off to a slow start that placed them in an early hole. Cold shooting (3-20 from the field – 15% – and 0-4 from the line) over the first 12 minutes of the game saw CNR fall behind 17-6 before a Pechin three ball ended a 13-2 Lady Bear run with 8:03 left in the opening stanza. With St. Joseph's leading by 10, 21-11, with 6:54 left, the Blue Angel offense heated up, outscoring the Lady Bears 20-6 the rest of the way, capped by Pechin's historic trifecta and another from the junior guard as the first half horn sounded, to give CNR a 31-27 lead at the break.
Two Jah-Leah Ellis baskets to open the second 20 minutes pushed the Blue Angel lead to eight and CNR maintained that lead the remainder of the game, as the Lady Bears never had possession of the ball with the opportunity to take the lead the rest of the way. In fact, the Blue Angels held St. Joseph's to 19.4% from the floor in the second half, and did not allow a field goal over the final two minutes of play to secure the streak-breaking victory.
Ellis tallied game-highs with 18 points, 22 rebounds and four steals, adding four assists. The double-double was her team-leading 17th and her fourth 20+ rebounding effort of the season. Victoria McCaffrey added 10 points to join Ellis in double-figures.
Samantha Retas paced the Lady Bears with 16 points and 15 rebounds.