Women’s Basketball Slips to No. 11 Saint Joseph’s (Maine)

STANDISH, Maine – The Suffolk women's basketball team could not hold onto its early edge as the Monks of No. 11 Saint Joseph's (Maine) stormed back to take down the Rams, 77-63, Saturday afternoon at the Harold Alfond Center. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 63 | No. 11 Saint Joseph's (Maine) 77
RECORDS: Suffolk (14-5, 6-1 GNAC) | No. 11 Saint Joseph's (Maine) (19-0, 7-0 GNAC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
St. Joe's put the first eight points off the day on the board before Marissa Gudauskas heated up. The senior struck twice from downtown and put away a pull-up jumper to bring the Rams within one, 10-9, at the midway point of the first frame. 

The teams exchanged hoops for the next couple of minutes before Gudauskas knocked down her third triple of the day to level the playing field at 17-all with 3:13 to go in the opening quarter. In the final two minutes, the shooting guard from Bolton, Connecticut, recorded a jumper and late layup to give the blue-and-gold its first record that it hung onto, 21-19 at the end of the first 10 minutes. 

Suffolk remained in front and held a 32-30 edge after Gabriella DeComo made a put-back layup with 4:25 left in the second stanza. The Rams shooting streak went cold and the Monks took advance, rattling off 11 unanswered points to claim a 41-32 cushion four minutes later. Jenni-Rose DiCecco ended the scoring draught and cut her team's shortfall to sit when she hit a three with four seconds before the break. 

The Rams chipped away at SJC's advantage even more on their first possession of the third frame as Alexis Hackett joined in the shooting show from behind-the-arc. Tides turned in the Monks favor as they ran off on a 21-6 spurt to essentially put the game away, 62-44, with 4:10 left in the third quarter. 

Suffolk sat in a 15-point deficit as the fourth quarter began and St. Joe's kept them at a double digit distance the rest of the way end the Rams' winning streak to six. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Gudauskas had her second straight game in double figures with a team-high 19 points behind an 8-for-16 effort from the field and 3-for-9 showing from three-point land.
• DiCecco put together an all-around day with 14 points. The sophomore floor general was one assist and one rebound shy of a triple double, recording nine caroms and dimes, respectively.
• Hackett heled out with 12 points, six boards, six assists, two steals and one block.
• DeComo chipped in nine points and five rebounds.
• Suffolk's hot shooting from the first frame of 53.3 percent did not carry over for the game as the Rams ended the 40-minute action shooting at a 38.7 percent clip from the field and just 23.3 percent from three-point range.
• The Rams won the battle on the glass, 37-32. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk met its second top 25 opponent of the season. 

POST-GAME PIC
 

COMING UP
Suffolk will entertain Lasell inside Regan Gymnasium Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m.