WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's basketball team led wire-to-wire and had four players finish in double figures to propel the Blue Jays to a clutch, 61-52, victory over the visiting Lasell University (LAS) Lasers in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest inside the O'Connell Center Monday night. With the victory, USJ has now won three straight games and improves to 9-6 overall and 5-3 in the GNAC. Lasell dips to 6-7 overall and 4-3 in league play with the setback.

GAME INFORMATION
Score: Lasell 52, Saint Joseph 61
Records: LAS 6-7 (4-3 GNAC), USJ 8-6 (4-3 GNAC)
Location: O'Connell Center | West Hartford, Conn.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Blue Jays couldn't have asked for a better start and raced out to a 12-0 lead to open the game behind eight points from freshman guard Maya Slisz (New Britain, Conn.) and four points from senior guard Cheyenne-Mone Smith (Wethersfield, Conn.). The Blue Jays kept the Lasers scoreless for nearly the first four minutes of the contest until Lasell's senior forward Meg Carroll (Douglas, Mass.) turned in a jump shot to get the visitors on the board with 6:04 on the timer. USJ maintained a 10-point advantage for the majority of the first quarter until the Lasers rattled off a 6-2 spurt over the final two minutes of the period to trim USJ's gap to six, 19-13.

Both teams traded hoops in an evenly matched second quarter. Lasell cut the USJ lead back down to six after a layup from freshman guard Jasmine DePina with 6:36 left to play before the intermission, but junior point guard Amanda Fudge (Middletown, Conn.) answered on USJ's next trip down the floor with a big three-pointer from the top of the arc to push the Blue Jays' lead back up to nine. That started a 7-4 run for Saint Joseph over the remainder of the period as the Blue Jays would take a 30-21 edge into the locker rooms.

After a back-and-forth start to the second half, Fudge once again ignited a USJ run, this time in the middle of the third period. An old fashioned three-point play by Fudge with 6:12 to play in the quarter sparked an 11-2 burst over the ensuing three minutes of action to build the Blue Jays' largest lead of the game, 45-27, with just over three minutes to go. Lasell would answer with back-to-back triples before a Slisz free throw gave the hosts a 46-33 lead heading into the final period.

The Blue Jays maintained a comfortable three-possession lead for the first eight and a half minutes of the fourth quarter and looked like they were in route to a wire-to-wire victory. However, some late pressure by Lasell made things interesting down the stretch as the Lasers forced some turnovers and knocked down foul shots with the clock stopped to make it a five-point game with under a minute to play. Fourth-year head coach Wendy Davis used her timeouts wisely though, settling the team down and advancing the ball into the front court, and Fudge would convert 4-of-4 from the charity strip over the final 38 seconds to seal the victory, 61-52.

PLAYER QUOTE [Maya Slisz]
"The team played great. We played team basketball and were all focusing on defense which transitioned into our offense and resulted in an overall great game. I was just trying to lock-in on defense as much as I could. I like to steal the ball and get easy layups and that was working out for me tonight.

COACH QUOTE [Wendy Davis]
"We challenged our starters to start the game better and they answered the call tonight with that big run to open the game. Our defense once again played great and is keeping us in games. Maya Slisz was a huge spark for us defensively also with seven big-time steals."

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Fudge led four scorers in double figures in a well-balanced USJ offensive attack on the night with a game-high 19 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field, including 2-of-6 from beyond the arc. She was clutch from the free-throw line though, knocking down a perfect 9-of-9 attempts. Slisz was everywhere for the Blue Jays in the triumph finishing with 13 points (4-10 FG, 5-6 FT), a career-high seven steals, and five rebounds. Sophomore forward Jordan Ouellette (Bristol, Conn.) logged her third career double-double with 13 points and a career-best and game-high 15 rebounds, while sophomore Jelly Frigo (Canton, Conn.) chipped in with 10 points, three steals, and a pair of blocks.

Freshman guard Juju Nealy (Fitchburg, Mass.) led the way for the Lasers with a game-high 20 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor in the setback. She also connected on 10-of-17 attempts from the charity stripe and added a team-best four steals. DePina added four points and grabbed a team-high 12 caroms, while USJ did a nice job on Carroll, who entered the game averaging a double-double per game, holding her to six points (3-10 FG) and seven rebounds.

Team stats were pretty much dead even accross the board with the difference coming at the free-throw line as the Blue Jays shot 80.0% (20-25) compared to Lasell's 52.4% (11-21). It marked the second-best free-throw shooting percentage in a game for the Blue Jays this season (90.5% at MCLA on December 9).

UP NEXT
The Blue Jays will look to keep it rolling and go for their fourth straight win when they return to the hardwood next on Wednesday, January 26 on the road at Johnson & Wales University (JWU). Tipoff between the Blue Jays and Wildcats is scheduled for 5:30 pm, part of a GNAC basketball doubleheader with the USJ and JWU men playing right after at 7:30 pm, inside the Wildcat Center. JWU's latest spectator policy can be found hereand fans can always catch all the action live via the links on www.usjbluejays.com. 

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