NEWTON, MA - Saint Joseph's (8-8, 1-2 GNAC) halted a three-game skid by defeating GNAC foe Mount Ida College (4-9, 0-2), 81-56, on Saturday afternoon. Carolyn Freeman '10 (Scarborough, ME/McAuley) scored a game-high 18 points and Ashley Geel '12 (St. George, ME) collected her first collegiate double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in the triumph. Cherie Parisi '10 (South Attleboro, MA) led the Mustangs with 16 points in the losing effort.

With four three-pointers in the contest, Freeman now has 127 in her career and has climbed into third-place in the women's basketball record books. The junior's 383 attempts from beyond the arc rank fourth and her 33.2% success rate is currently seventh-best all-time.

Saint Joseph's enjoyed a season-best 52.7% (29-55) success rate from the field, including 8-15 (53.3%) from three-point range. The Lady Monks grabbed 48 rebounds and 16 steals in the total effort. Mount Ida countered with a 29.5% (18-61) shooting effort with 33 boards.

Momentum was not on the Lady Monks' side in the early going, as the Mustangs rattled off an 11-2 run, highlighted by six points from Parisi, to attain an 11-5 lead with 11:59 to play in the opening stanza.

But Saint Joseph's had other plans, and produced a nine point surge of their own in the next minute of play. A longball from Freeman jumpstarted the Royal Blue comeback efforts and Geel converted a three-point play and nailed a trey of her own to provide St. Joe's with a 14-11 lead at the 11:06 mark. As it turned out, the Lady Monks would not trail for the remainder of the contest and led by as much as 29 late in the second half.

St. Joe's maintained a lead of no more than six points for the following six minutes, but pushed their lead to nine points, 28-19, when Freeman connected from beyond the arc with 3:44 to go in the first. Saint Joseph's maintained the cushion for the final minutes of the half and held a 33-24 lead going into the locker room.

Paced by nine points from Freeman, Saint Joseph's led by double-digits for nearly the entire second half and ballooned their lead to 29 after Megan McDevitt '12 (Cumberland, ME), who scored all eight of her points in the second stanza, drilled a three-pointer with 1:54 to play. The Lady Monks went on to notch the 81-56 victory and first GNAC win of the season.

For Saint Joseph's, Meghan Daigle '10 (Grantham, NH) had 12 points, eight boards and four steals and shot a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. Casey Drake '11 (Lebanon, NH) added nine points and five assists and McDevitt added five caroms to go along with her eight points. Alysn Ludwig '09 (Waldoboro, ME) contributed with six points and four steals and Kayla Nowell '11 (Bridgton, ME) chipped in with six points in the victory.

Saint Joseph's will host GNAC rival Emmanuel College on Monday, January 19th at 1:00 PM while the Mustangs are set to tackle Johnson & Wales in Providence, RI on Monday at 5:30 PM.



Newspaper Box Score
St. Joseph's (Me.) vs Mount Ida College
1/17/09 1:00 pm at Newton, Massachusetts
At Newton, Massachusetts
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 81, MOUNT IDA COLLEGE 56
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (8-8, 1-2 GNAC)
Carolyn Freeman 6-10 2-2 18; Meghan Daigle 3-9 6-6 12; Ashley Geel 5-7 1-1
12; Casey Drake 4-5 1-1 9; Megan McDevitt 3-4 0-2 8; Kayla Nowell 2-4 1-4 6;
Alysn Ludwig 2-7 2-2 6; Allison Miner 1-2 2-2 4; Kayla Boston 2-4 0-2 4;
Andrea Enright 1-1 0-0 2; Sarah Fournier 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-55 15-22 81.
MOUNT IDA COLLEGE (4-9, 0-2 GNAC)
Cherie Parisi 6-13 3-4 16; Hannah Blum 4-19 4-4 12; Jeileen Rivera 2-6 2-4
7; Ashley Boyd 2-6 2-3 6; Katie Morvan 1-5 3-4 5; Brittany Dolloff 1-2 1-2
4; Rebecca Tisbert 1-3 1-4 3; Nicole Casimiro 1-3 0-0 3; Jenny Davis 0-4 0-0
0. Totals 18-61 16-25 56.
St. Joseph's (Me.)............ 33 48 - 81
Mount Ida College............. 24 32 - 56
3-point goals--St. Joseph's (Me.) 8-15 (Carolyn Freeman 4-7; Megan McDevitt
2-2; Ashley Geel 1-1; Kayla Nowell 1-1; Sarah Fournier 0-2; Meghan Daigle
0-2), Mount Ida College 4-13 (Nicole Casimiro 1-3; Jeileen Rivera 1-3;
Cherie Parisi 1-2; Brittany Dolloff 1-1; Rebecca Tisbert 0-1; Jenny Davis
0-3). Fouled out--St. Joseph's (Me.)-None, Mount Ida College-Ashley Boyd;
Rebecca Tisbert. Rebounds--St. Joseph's (Me.) 48 (Ashley Geel 12), Mount Ida
College 33 (Ashley Boyd 7; Cherie Parisi 7). Assists--St. Joseph's (Me.) 19
(Casey Drake 5), Mount Ida College 8 (Rebecca Tisbert 3). Total fouls--St.
Joseph's (Me.) 22, Mount Ida College 20. Technical fouls--St. Joseph's
(Me.)-None, Mount Ida College-Ashley Boyd. A-500
Technical Foul, 21, Mount Ida College