CHICOPEE, Mass. – Saint Joseph's College (8-10, 3-2 GNAC) opened the night with a flurry, led wire-to-wire, and held off a late push to earn a 77-65 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) road win at Elms College (6-13, 2-4 GNAC) on Tuesday evening at Picknelly Arena.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Saint Joseph's set the tone right away, racing out to a 9-0 lead and riding the fast start to a 24-11 advantage after the first quarter. The Monks kept their foot on the gas in the second, stringing together stops and pushing the margin to as many as 20 before heading into halftime with a 38-22 cushion.

Elms made its best push early in the third and briefly cut the deficit to 10, but Saint Joseph's answered immediately—as Hayden Madore (Hallowell, Maine), Logan Brown (Brunswick, Maine) and Elisabeth Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) connected on three-pointers during a 13-2 run that saw the visitors retake a 20-point advantage. The Blazers closed with 26 points in the final period – including a 9-0 run in the final 90 seconds – but the effort proved to be too little, too late.

STATS OF THE GAME:

Saint Joseph's scored 40 points off 25 Elms turnovers and knocked down 11 three-pointers in the victory. Elms made three shots from beyond the arc and added 12 points on 14 SJC turnovers.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Elisabeth Stapelfeld: 16 points, 8 rebounds
• Logan Brown: 16 points, 2 assists, 5-10 3FG
• Hayden Madore: 11 points, 3 steals
• Maddie Russell (Jr., Oakfield, Maine): 9 points2 assists, 2 rebounds
• Abby Dube (Jr., Groveland, Mass.): 9 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds

LEADERS – ELMS:

• Mary Turco: 22 points, 14 rebounds
• Sanaii Diaz: 15 points
• Gabby Wasiewicz: 9 points 3-4 3FG

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

Saint Joseph's is now 7-0 in the history of the series with Elms College.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will host Albertus Magnus College in a battle of undefeated GNAC teams on Saturday at 3:00 PM.