Claremont, Calif. - Sarah Assante had 19 of her game-high 23 points in the second half on 8-9 shooting to lead the Saint Joseph's College (Maine) Women's Basketball team to a hard-fought 66-60 win over Pomona-Pitzer on Tuesday afternoon at Voelkel Gymnasium. 

With the win, the Monks improve to 7-2 on the season, while Pomona-Pitzer, playing its first game in three weeks, falls to 1-7 with the loss. 

The Sagehens led 60-57 with 3:26 left on a jumper from freshman guard Anya Quig, but the Monks closed out on a 9-0 run to take the win. Assante hit a jump shot to cut the deficit to one and split two foul shots to tie the score 60-60 with 2:15 to go. Emily Kehoe broke the tie with 1:37 to go, and Assante then had a steal and another short jumper to push the lead to four points with 49 seconds left. 

Another steal, this time from Molly Mack, gave the ball back to Saint Joseph's and Assante sealed it with two foul shots with 25 seconds left. 

Sophomore forward Basha Brulee-Wills led the Sagehens with 17 points, while freshman forward Cassandra Palmer had her first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Kehoe had 11 and Norman Waggett added a double-double for the Monks with 10 points and 12 rebounds. 

Pomona-Pitzer returns to action tomorrow for a New Year's Eve home game against Bethesda Christian at 7:30 p.m. 

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