STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's (4-3) defeated University of Maine-Presque Isle, 66-46, on Friday night in the second game of the Merry Monk Tournament at the Harold Alfond Center. Meghan Daigle '10 (Grantham, NH) netted 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals in the triumph, which propels the Monks into the Merry Monk Championship against Green Mountain College for the second-consecutive year.

Green Mountain defeated University of Maine-Fort Kent in the first game of the tourney, 50-41 (SEE FULL STORY BELOW). The Eagles were led by senior forward Emma Brinley Buckley (Lakeville, CT), who recorded 13 rebounds and 7 blocked shots in the victory. Presque Isle will face off against Fort Kent on Saturday in a 1:00 PM consolation game, while the Monks will challenge the Eagles in a rematch of the 2008 Merry Monk Championship game at 3:00 PM.

Four SJC players reached double-digits in the win, with Carolyn Freeman '10 (Scarborough, ME/McAuley) scoring 13, and also grabbing 9 boards, Allison Miner '10 (Pembroke, NH) adding 11 and Ashley Geel '12 (St. George, ME) chipping in with 10 points for the Monks.

Kathy Kilfoil '10 (Johnville, NB) scored 9 points with a game-high 11 boards and Mindy Sullivan '10 (Lisbon, ME) added 9 points for the Owls in a losing effort.

St. Joe's held a slim 26-24 lead going into the intermission after a closely-contested first half. The Monks held an 18-12 lead after Freeman converted a pair of free throws at the 6:47 mark, but the Owls countered with a 12-4 outburst and went up by two, 24-22, when Emily Pelletier '13 (Fort Kent, ME) connected on a three-pointer just over four minutes later. Daigle and Geel made buckets for the hosts in the final minute to provide the Royal Blue with a two point cushion heading into the break.

Kilfoil scored the first basket of the second stanza to tie the game at 26 apiece and Presque Isle was able to maintain the two-possession deficit for the first five minutes of the latter half.

Saint Joseph's received some breathing room when Allie Parent '12 (Camden, ME) ignited a 10-2 run that saw the Monks take a 46-33 lead with 11:06 to go. The teams traded punches for the subsequent three minutes, but St. Joe's finally took control of the game with a 16-5 run that ended with a Freeman layup and the Monks ahead, 63-42, with 3:30 remaining.

St. Joe's shot 38.6% (22-57) overall, 16.7% (2-12) from beyond the arc and 74.1% (20-27) from the line, while Presque Isle connected on 36.4% (16-44) of their shots from the floor, 37.5% (3-8) from three-point distance and 68.8% (11-16) from the charity stripe.

Freshman guard Amy Jordan (Forestdale, MA) made her collegiate debut in the victory and grabbed a defensive board in two minutes of play.

NOTES: For Coach McDevitt, the victory was the 330^th of his career...Miner needs 13 rebounds to reach the 400 mark for her career...through seven games, five SJC players are averaging at least 8.0 PPG.

Newspaper Box Score
ME. - Presque Isle vs St. Joseph's (Me.)
12/4/09 7:23pm at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) 66, ME. - PRESQUE ISLE 46
ME. - PRESQUE ISLE (0-3)
Mindy Sullivan 4-6 1-2 9; Kathy Kilfoil 2-12 5-6 9; Emily Pelletier 3-7 0-0
8; Emily Moore 2-5 3-4 8; Julie Peers 3-5 0-0 6; Megan Korhonen 2-5 1-2 5;
Karen Creighton 0-4 1-2 1; Kallie Pelletier 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 11-16
46.
ST. JOSEPH'S (ME.) (4-3)
Meghan Daigle 6-15 4-5 16; Carolyn Freeman 2-10 8-8 13; Allison Miner 3-5
5-6 11; Ashley Geel 5-7 0-2 10; Megan McDevitt 3-11 0-0 7; Allie Parent 2-5
1-2 5; Jess Bridges 1-1 0-2 2; Danyelle Shufelt 0-1 2-2 2; Casey Drake 0-2
0-0 0; Amy Jordan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 20-27 66.
ME. - Presque Isle............   24   22  -   46
St. Joseph's (Me.)............   26   40  -   66
3-point goals--ME. - Presque Isle 3-8 (Emily Pelletier 2-5; Emily Moore 1-1;
Megan Korhonen 0-2), St. Joseph's (Me.) 2-12 (Carolyn Freeman 1-5; Megan
McDevitt 1-6; Allie Parent 0-1). Fouled out--ME. - Presque Isle-Megan
Korhonen; Julie Peers, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. Rebounds--ME. - Presque Isle
31 (Kathy Kilfoil 11), St. Joseph's (Me.) 37 (Carolyn Freeman 9).
Assists--ME. - Presque Isle 13 (Emily Moore 5), St. Joseph's (Me.) 16 (Allie
Parent 6). Total fouls--ME. - Presque Isle 22, St. Joseph's (Me.) 16.
Technical fouls--ME. - Presque Isle-None, St. Joseph's (Me.)-None. A-95
Merry Monk Tournament  Game 2

Eagles Claw Past Bengals in Merry Monk Opener - BOXSCORE

STANDISH, ME - Green Mountain College (3-2) defeated University of Maine-Fort Kent (1-3), 50-41, at Harold Alfond Gymnasium in the Merry Monk Classic opener hosted by Saint Joseph's College. Emma Brinley Buckley '10 (Lakeville, CT) chipped in with 13 boards and 7 blocks for Green Mountain and Kristen Violette '10 (Eagle Lake, ME) had a game-high 17 points for the Bengals.

Green Mountain jumped out to an early 7-2 lead after Chelsea Paul '13 (Northville, NY) drilled a three pointer at the 15:40 mark. The Bengals didn't wait long to fire back, as a long ball by Morgan Chasse '13 (Veazie, ME) tied the game at seven a piece only two minutes later.

Just when the Bengals had the Eagles in their sights, Green Mountain flew past them, going on an 18-4 run in a five and a half minute stretch led by 8 points from Christin Louras '10 (Rutland, VT). After a timeout by Fort Kent Head Coach Lucas Levesque with 6:26 left in the first, the Bengals managed to pounce back into the game, outscoring the Eagles 8-6 in the final minutes to cut the deficit to 10 points heading into the break.

The second half started out as a slow crawl as there was only one basket made through the first three minutes of play. Both teams combined to score a total of 18 points, shooting a combined 8-30 from the field and committing 12 turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the second stanza. An evenly-played half - Fort Kent outscored the Eagles 20-19 in the closing period - kept this game close, but the Eagles held on and clinched a nine-point victory, sending them to the tournament final, which is slated for a 3:00 PM start on Saturday. Green Mountain will play the winner of Saint Joseph's and University of Maine-Presque Isle in the title bout.

Fort Kent will play in the tourney consolation contest at 1:00 PM on Saturday against the loser of the St. Joe's-Presque matchup.

Newspaper Box Score
Green Mountain Colle vs ME. - Fort Kent
12/4/09 5:30pm at Standish, Maine
At Standish, Maine
GREEN MOUNTAIN COLLE 50, ME. - FORT KENT 41
GREEN MOUNTAIN COLLE (3-2)
Christin Louras 5-7 0-1 13; Chelsea Paul 5-9 0-0 12; Katie Jablonski 4-6 1-2
9; Lindsay Tassie 3-10 0-0 6; Emma Brinley Buckley 2-11 0-0 4; Chanleigh
Casey 1-3 2-2 4; Jacque Caster 1-8 0-0 2. Totals 21-54 3-5 50.
ME. - FORT KENT (1-3)
Kristin Violette 8-16 1-4 17; Morgan Chasse 5-13 0-0 11; Amber Garrison 3-11
1-1 7; Maliesha Caesar 1-11 1-2 4; Catherine Melton 1-2 0-0 2; Talisha
Herring 0-12 0-0 0; Tara Waltz 0-2 0-0 0; Angela Norsworthy 0-0 0-0 0;
Rebecca Stokdijk 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-68 3-7 41.
Green Mountain Colle..........   31   19  -   50
ME. - Fort Kent...............   21   20  -   41
3-point goals--Green Mountain Colle 5-13 (Christin Louras 3-4; Chelsea Paul
2-4; Lindsay Tassie 0-3; Chanleigh Casey 0-1; Jacque Caster 0-1), ME. - Fort
Kent 2-17 (Maliesha Caesar 1-1; Morgan Chasse 1-5; Talisha Herring 0-8;
Amber Garrison 0-2; Kristin Violette 0-1). Fouled out--Green Mountain
Colle-None, ME. - Fort Kent-Morgan Chasse. Rebounds--Green Mountain Colle 41
(Emma Brinley Buckley 13), ME. - Fort Kent 44 (Maliesha Caesar 12).
Assists--Green Mountain Colle 16 (Katie Jablonski 5; Chelsea Paul 5), ME. -
Fort Kent 14 (Talisha Herring 3; Amber Garrison 3). Total fouls--Green
Mountain Colle 11, ME. - Fort Kent 13. Technical fouls--Green Mountain
Colle-None, ME. - Fort Kent-None. A-50
Merry Monk Tournament