LOS ANGELES, Calif. - #13/14 Saint Joseph's College (12-0) concluded a two-game west coast trip with a 69-50 victory at Occidental College (6-5) on Sunday afternoon.

The Monks, ranked 13th and 14th in the latest D3hoops.com and WBCA national polls, respectively, are off to the second-best start in program history. The 1998-99 team opened the season with 13-consecutive victories.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The game sat at a 17-17 stalemate with 5:17 left in the second quarter before the Monks registered a 13-4 run to collect a 30-21 lead.

The Tigers climbed back to within five points (30-25) with a second stanza buzzer beater jumper and a Madison Toy (San Francisco, Calif.) bucket 42 seconds into the third period, but Saint Joseph's broke the game open with a 15-4 run – capped by a Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) three-pointer – en route to securing a 45-29 cushion with 4:14 left in the penultimate quarter.

St. Joe's went on to claim a game-high 27-point (67-40) advantage after sophomore guard Jordan Jabar (Waterville, Maine) hit a jump shot with 5:53 remaining.

STATS OF THE GAME:

Saint Joseph's shot 44.6% (25-56) from the field with a 57.9% (11-19) effort from three-point distance – Occidental countered by shooting 31.3% (20-64) and 15.0% (3-20) from the floor and downtown, respectively.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Senior guard Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) was 6-7 from three-point distance with 26 points, two rebounds, and a pair of steals
• Champagne was 5-6 from downtown and 7-10 from the floor overall en route to scoring 23 points with 13 rebounds and four assists
• Senior forward Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) added six points and 12 rebounds

LEADERS – OCCIDENTAL:

• Sophomore guard Alyssa Ramlochan (Los Angeles, Calif.) notched a double-double with 15 points and 11 caroms
• Sophomore guard Taylor Yoshida (Montebello, Calif.) was 5-7 from the field with 11 points and three assists
• Freshman guard Raveena Dhiman (San Jose, Calif.) came off the bench to score 10 points

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Today's victory is the Monks' first in three games versus Occidental. The Tigers tipped the Monks, 66-64, in the last meeting between the opposite coast foes on December 31st, 2014.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's kicks off Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play with a game at Regis College on Tuesday, January 8th at 7:00 PM.

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