WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's basketball team got back to its winning ways, picking up a clutch 65-46 victory over the Chargers of Colby-Sawyer College (CSC), inside the O'Connell Center Saturday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) action. The Blue Jays, who were 0-3 all-time against Colby-Sawyer entering Saturday's matchup and had lost all three of those games by 15+ points, held the Chargers to their third-lowest scoring output of the season, and maintained a steady advantage from start to finish en route to the victory.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Colby-Sawyer 46, Saint Joseph 65
Records: CSC 1-11 (1-3 GNAC), USJ 7-6 (3-3 GNAC),
Location: O'Connell Center | West Hartford, Conn.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams struggled on the offensive end in the early going as turnovers piled up. The Blue Jays, under the direction of fourth-year head coach Wendy Davis, kept pushing the pace and got some easy baskets in transition to move ahead of the visitors. A 13-6 USJ lead after the opening quarter quickly became a double-digit lead after sophomore guard Jelly Frigo (Canton, Conn.) made back-to-back layups to put the Blue Jays up 25-12 with just under two minutes to play before halftime. Three Colby-Sawyer free throws trimmed the gap back down to 10 before junior point guard Amanda Fudge (Middletown, Conn.) turned in a layup to give the hosts a 12-point lead entering the break, 27-15.

The Blue Jays kept it going in the second half despite a hard-charging Colby-Sawyer offense, which finally saw a three go in the basket at the 7:48 mark of the third period after the Chargers had missed their first 10 three-point attempts. A 16-9 spurt by the Blue Jays over the first six minutes of the third stanza built a 43-24 cushion, as the Blue Jays led by double digits for the entire second half.

An 11-5 Colby-Sawyer burst to end the third quarter trimmed USJ's lead to 13 (48-35) entering the final period, but USJ held off the Chargers, who scored 31 of their 46 points in the second half, but could not make a big enough run to make a dent in the home team's double-digit lead. The Blue Jays never trailed in the wire-to-wire victory and led by as many as 23 after a 15-5 run to open the fourth quarter built USJ's lead to 63-40 and they would never look back en route to the 65-46 final margin.

PLAYER QUOTE [Jordan Ouellette]
"Our defense was on today. Our offense wasn't going as well as we wanted to, but we knew our defense could pick us up and lead us and that's what we used to earn the win today."

COACH QUOTE [Wendy Davis]
"Our offense is still sputtering, but I thought our defense played great today. [Colby-Sawyer] is a layup and three-point shooting team and I thought that defensively we did a great job. Everybody contributed in some way, shape, or form on that end of the floor and we found a way to get it done."

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
A myriad of contributors came on the offensive end Saturday for USJ. Sophomore forward Jordan Ouellette (Bristol, Conn.) came alive in the second half, scoring 12 of her game-high 17 points (8-14 FG) over the final 20 minutes of action. She also added nine rebounds, narrowly missing out on her third double-double of the season. Fudge added 15 points (6-9 FG) and seven boards, while senior guard Cheyenne-Mone Smith (Wethersfield, Conn.) chipped in with seven points (3-7 FG) and six rebounds. Freshman guard Maya Slisz (New Britain, Conn.) was tremendous on the defensive end for the Blue Jays and finished with nine points (4-12 FG) and a game-high four steals.

Freshman guard Marissa Holt (Alfred, Maine) led the way for Colby-Sawyer with 14 points (5-11 FG), while freshman guard Gabby Lucertini (Branford, Conn.) added nine points (3-13 FG) and grabbed seven boards. Freshman guard Megan Molettierri (Pelham, N.H.) also chipped in with seven points (2-7 FG) for the Chargers.

USJ shot 43.9% (29-66) from the field, 25.0% (2-8) from three, and 41.7% (5-12) from the free-throw line in the triumph. Colby-Sawyer connected on just 27.1% (16-59) of its tries from the floor, 10.5% (2-19) from three, and 75.0% (12-16) from the charity stripe. The Blue Jays won the battle inside, outrebounding the Chargers (45-38), scoring more second-chance points (17-8), and scoring more points in the paint (44-26).

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays will be home for another GNAC matchup, this time against the Lasers of Lasell University. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 18 inside the O'Connell Center. Please review the University's latest updates to its spectator policy. Fans can also head over to www.usjbluejays.com to catch the action live!

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