Women’s Basketball Stops Albertus Magnus, 63-56

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – In her 100th career start, senior Kelsey Schiebel led the Suffolk women's basketball team to a 63-56 win at Albertus Magnus Wednesday night at the Nest.

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 63, Albertus Magnus 56
RECORDS: Suffolk (16-7, 11-3 GNAC) | Albertus Magnus (12-10, 7-6 GNAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
Suffolk found itself in a 4-0 hole to open up the game, but quickly swung the setting thanks to triples from Georgia Bourikas and Kelsey Schiebel to take a 7-6 lead just 3:19 into action.

The Falcons turned the tides once again, going up, 10-8, but it would be the last time the Rams were in the deficit in over the first 10 minutes. Schiebel's second hoop from downtown put the visitors up once again and Suffolk outscored Albertus Magnus 5-2 the rest of the way to take a 17-12 into the second.

Out of the first intermission, Suffolk turned up the volume, going on an 11-3 stretch to make it a 28-15 Rams game with just over 5 minutes remaining in the half. The blue-and-gold went cold and the Falcons heated up, pouring in seven unanswered points to trim Suffolk's edge to six, 28-22, with 2:31 on the clock. A see-saw affair ensued from there and the Rams went into halftime leading, 34-27. 

Albertus Magnus opened the third quarter with five quick points to make it a two-point game, 34-32. Marissa Gudauskas shut down the unanswered spurt with a triple and jump started an 8-0 Rams run, which put the visitors back up by nine at the midway point.

The Falcons hung with the Rams and cut the margin to four, 43-39, but Suffolk kept them at bay over the final 2:31 to go into the final 10 minutes up, 49-43.

A Bourikas three combined with a layup from Caitlyn Caramello to open the fourth frame quickly gave Suffolk a double figure advantage with plenty of time on the clock. Down the stretch, for every Falcons bucket the Rams had an answer and did not allow the hosts closer than five the rest of the way, to seal the 63-56 victory.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• In 37 minutes of action, Schiebel poured in a tea -high 19 points with three of her five field goals coming from behind-the-arc. The senior floor general was perfect at the charity stripe, connecting on all six of her attempts, and set-up two other shots. She also chipped in three rebounds.
• Classmate Bourikas joined Schiebel in double figures with 13, shooting 50 percent (5-10) from the floor and an impressive 3-for-3 from 3-point land. Her eight-board effort, which all came on the defensive end, paced Suffolk on the glass and went along with two helpers.
• Gudauskas and Katelyn Rourke pitched in seven points and fourth caroms apiece. Alexis Hackett also recorded seven points and four assists in a reserve effort.
• Off the bench, Caramello provided seven rebounds and six points.
• Suffolk shot 36.5 percent (19-52) from the field, 38.9 percent (7-18) from beyond-the-arc and 81.8 percent at the foul line.
• The battle on the boards was identical with each team grabbing 39.
• Albertus Magnus saw 30 of its 56 total points come from inside the paint.

NOTEWORTHY

• Schiebel became just the fourth Ram in Suffolk women's basketball history to start 100 games in her collegiate career, joining Iliana Quadri '15 (112 GP/110 GS), Jacqueline Vienneau'13 (110 GP/108 GS) and Katie Librandi '02 (105 GP/103 GS).
• Suffolk moved to 15-7 all-time versus Albertus Magnus, sweeping the two-game, regular-season series against the Falcons this season.
• The Rams are now 11-3 in GNAC action this season, marking just the third time the blue-and-gold collected 11 conference competitions in a regular-season, joining the 1999-00 squad (19-7, 11-1 GNAC0) and the 2007-08 team (20-9, 11-2 GNAC).
• Gudauskas made her first collegiate start. 

POST-GAME PIC

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk caps off its regular-season road tests Saturday, Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. at Simmons.