STANDISH, Maine – Saint Joseph's College (12-3, 7-0 GNAC) defeated Emmanuel College (11-5, 6-2 GNAC), 83-67, in a battle of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's basketball heavyweights at the Harold Alfond Center on Tuesday evening. The Monks have now won eight-consecutive contests.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The highly anticipated contest between the Monks and Saints – who have met in the GNAC Championship six times in the last 10 seasons – did not disappoint in front of a lively home crowd.

Saint Joseph's held the lead for the entire game thanks in part to a 12-2 SJC surge in the opening three minutes, but Emmanuel cut into the hosts' advantage in the second quarter with a 10-3 outbreak, which was capped by an Olivia Matela (Swampscott, Mass.) three-pointer and the Saints trailing 31-27 with 5:14 before the break.

The Monks answered with a 13-3 outbreak spanning the following three-plus minutes and carried a 47-34 cushion into intermission. Although the game did not feel comfortably in hand until the closing minutes, St. Joe's held a double-digit advantage for the remainder of the contest and boasted a game-high 21-point cushion when junior guard Hannah Talon (Windham, Maine) hit a three-pointer to make it a 76-55 game with 6:32 left.

STATS OF GAME:

Saint Joseph's shot 52.8% (28-53) from the field and 81.8% (18-22) from the free-throw line while Emmanuel posted a 37.5% (24-64) performance from the floor and shot just 52.2% (12-23) from the charity stripe in a losing effort.

LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:

• Talon paced the Monks with 21 points while shooting 6-for-9 from the floor – including a 3-for-4 effort from beyond the arc – and going 6-for-6 from the FT line; she also tallied six rebounds and four assists
• Freshman guard Elisabeth Stapelfeld (Brookline, N.H.) scored a season-high 17 points with five boards and two steals
• Junior guard Angelica Hurley (Groveland, Mass.) added 16 points, six caroms, four assists, and a pair of steals
• Senior forward Jayne Howe (Pembroke, Mass.) chipped in with nine points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals

LEADERS – EMMANUEL:

• Sophomore forward Yannie Chan (Hong Kong, China) led all scorers with 23 points and added seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals
• Matela scored 13 points and was 3-for-6 from downtown
• Junior forward Kiera Eubanks (Portland, Maine) chipped in with seven points, eight rebounds, and three blocked shots
• Freshmen guards Angela Giordano (Chicago, Ill.) and Tiffany Fischer (South River, N.J.) came off the bench to contribute eight points apiece

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:

With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 8-22 all-time versus Emmanuel College and ends a six-game losing streak at the hands of the Saints. Prior to this evening, St. Joe's had not defeated Emmanuel since February 5th, 2019 when the Monks topped the Saints by a 79-69 score in Standish.

For the Monks, tonight's winning margin is the most in the team's eight wins over Emmanuel.

NEXT!

Saint Joseph's will host Johnson & Wales University in a GNAC matchup at 1:00 PM on Saturday.

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