BIDDEFORD, Maine – #12/16 Saint Joseph's College (5-0) featured four players with double-digit point totals in a 71-55 victory at the University of New England (2-5) at the Harold Alfond Forum on Wednesday evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

UNE held a 12-4 lead six minutes into the contest but St. Joe's cut the deficit down to one point (16-15) when junior Lexi L'Heureux-Carland (Bridgton, Maine) hit a layup after pulling down an offensive board with 31 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Monks opened the second stanza with seven unanswered points on the way to securing a 22-18 edge, with freshman Grace Philippon (Glenburn, Maine) capping the offensive surge with a steal and layup at the 5:02 mark.

University of New England recovered with a 9-3 run and held a 27-25 edge heading into intermission.

The Monks proceeded to claim the lead for good when senior Hannah Marks (Waldoboro, Maine) drained three-pointers on consecutive possessions, the second of which making it a 42-41 game with 1:58 left in the penultimate quarter.

Saint Joseph's, ranked 12th and 16th nationally in this week's D3hoops.com and Women's Basketball Coaches Association polls, respectively, put the game to bed with a dominant fourth quarter. The Monks shot 57.1% (8-14) from the floor – including a 4-6 effort from downtown – and forced seven UNE turnovers en route to outscoring the Nor'easters by a 27-12 margin in the closing 10 minutes.

STATS OF THE GAME:

The Monks scored 21 points off 20 UNE turnovers; conversely, the Nor'easters mustered just two points on 10 SJC turnovers…St. Joe's was 17-23 from the FT line while UNE was just 3-6 from the stripe.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Marks netted 18 points while shooting 5-6 from three-point distance and added four rebounds
• Senior Kelsi McNamara (West Newbury, Mass.) tallied 18 points, eight assists, five steals, and four rebounds
• Senior Emily Benway (Rochester, N.H.) scored 12 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds
• Senior Julia Champagne (Brunswick, Maine) added 12 points, five rebounds, and five assists

LEADERS – UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND:

• Junior Jocelyn Chaput (Nashua, N.H.) scored 13 points with four boards and four assists
• Junior Ashley Coneys (Dover, N.H.) neared a double-double with 11 points and nine caroms
• Freshman Abby Cavallaro (South Portland, Maine) chipped in with 10 points and three rebounds

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the victory, Saint Joseph's improves to 51-18 all-time versus University of New England and has now defeated the Nor'easters in consecutive meetings for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign. Tonight's win is the Monks' first in Biddeford since SJC topped UNE by an 82-77 score on December 5th, 2001 and snaps an eight-game losing streak on the Nor'easters' home court.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will host Bates College at 1:00 PM on Saturday.

$website.include("/bp")