BOSTON, MA - #2 Suffolk University (21-6) defeated #3 Saint Joseph's College (16-11), 53-45, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament semifinal contest on Thursday evening. Junior Theresa Hendrix (Scarborough, Maine/Cheverus) paced the Monks with 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in the losing effort.

With the result, Suffolk moves on to face top-seeded Emmanuel College, which topped #5 Albertus Magnus College by a 72-48 margin tonight, in the GNAC Championship game on Saturday. For the Monks, the tournament loss brings an end to the 2012-13 season.

The semifinal tilt was tightly-contested, as the Monks and Rams played to four tie scores and swapped the lead on eight occasions throughout the game. Neither team held a lead of more than eight points, an advantage attained by the Rams several times during the tourney contest.

Neither team could find much of an offensive rhythm in a low-scoring first half as the conference counterparts combined to shoot only 28% from the field in the opening period. St. Joe's junior forward Lindsay Moore (Barrington, N.H.) closed the first-stanza scoring 52 seconds before the break with a jumper to cut the Monks' deficit to 23-19 heading into intermission.

The Monks came out swinging in the second half with seven unanswered points over the opening three minutes, as Moore capped the burst with a layup to lift her team to a 28-25 edge at the 17:17 mark.

The teams continued to go back and forth over the following minutes with senior Jacqueline Vienneau -Salem, N.H.) striking on her lone three-pointer of the game at the 13- minute mark to put Suffolk back up by three points, 33-30.

Moore and the Monks would come back however, as the junior post player put in another layup as part of a six-point second half to create a 33-33 standstill with 12:58 remaining.

But the deadlock would be the last of the night, as Suffolk junior Dominique Demar (Colchester, Conn.) kicked off a 10-2 Suffolk run with a bucket at the 12:12 mark, an outburst that closed four minutes later with the hosts owning a 43-35 cushion.  

Junior Abby Young (North Yarmouth, Maine) got the Monks back within four points at the four-minute mark when her layup made it a 48-44 game but, unfortunately, the bucket would be the visitor's final field goal of the night as the Rams held the Royal Blue to just one free throw over the closing four minutes of play.

For the Monks, freshman Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) netted eight on 4-for-9 shooting from the field and Hendrix, Cahill and Moore each pulled six rebounds for the visitors. Senior guard Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, Vt.) added seven points in the season-ending loss.

For Suffolk, junior Jennifer Ruys (Wallingford, Conn.) posted a double-double with game-highs of 14 points and 11 rebounds, sophomore Shelby Santini (Winchester, Mass.) finished the night with 13 points and a pair of steals and senior Lindsey Rogers (Gloucester, Mass.) had nine points.

THANKS IN LARGE PART TO SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 350-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.