No. 5 JWU Women's Basketball Knocks Off No. 4 Suffolk, 59-45 In GNAC Quarterfinals
Release at will
February 25, 2014
Boston, Mass. – The fifth-seeded Johnson & Wales University Wildcats women's basketball team upended fourth-seeded Suffolk, 59-45 in the quarterfinal round of the 2014 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Championship at Regan Gymnasium on Tuesday evening. The win marks the first time since the 2008-09 season that the Wildcats have won a conference playoff game.
JWU had three players finished the evening in double-figure scoring, led by junior D'Ana Rolle (Gardner, Mass.) who scored a team-high 18 points and led all players with nine rebounds while also tallying five steals. Junior Natalie DiCocco (Media, Pa.) and senior Samantha Hendrick (Castleton-On-Hudson, N.Y.) each had 10 points in the victory for the Wildcats.
Junior Jennifer Ruys (Wallingford, Conn.) scored a team-high 14 points in the setback for Suffolk while Iliana Quadri (Sudbury, Mass.) notched 11 points and three boards for the Rams.
It was a slow paced first half as the Wildcats took an 18-17 lead into the break at halftime. Neither team could find much rhythm as each team scored only six field goals in the stanza. Rolle paced the Wildcats going 4-for-7 from the field scoring eight points in the half.
Both teams traded baskets throughout the opening minutes of the second half until the Wildcats broke things open with a 12-2 run midway through the period when DiCocco sunk a three-pointer at the 8:25 marker for a 41-31 lead. The Wildcats would go 8-for-9 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes of the contest to seal the victory.
With the win Johnson &Wales improves to 10-16 while Suffolk falls to 16-10. The Wildcats will host eighth-seed Norwich in the semifinals of the tournament on Thursday, February 27th at the Wildcat Center at 7:00 p.m. The Cadets advanced to the championship game after an upset win over top-seeded Emmanuel.