January 29, 2011

STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's College (12-6, 4-1 GNAC) toppled Albertus Magnus (7-10, 1-5 GNAC), 85-57, in a GNAC Women's Basketball tilt at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Junior guard Megan McDevitt '12 (Cumberland, ME) led five SJC players in double digits with 18 points and added five rebounds and five assists in the lopsided triumph.

For Head Coach Mike McDevitt '83, now in his 18th season as the Monks' skipper, the victory is the 350th of his Saint Joseph's Women's Basketball coaching career. McDevitt, 350-135 (.722) overall at St. Joe's and the winningest coach in team history, served as the interim head coach of the women's basketball program at Southern Maine during the 2008-09 campaign and owns a 372-142 (.724) coaching record over 19-plus seasons.

Entering the 2009-10 season, Coach McDevitt ranked 22nd in winning percentage and 34th in victories among active NCAA DIII coaches. He also ranked 29th in winning percentage and 47th in victories in the history of DIII women's hoops. His career winning percentage ranks second in the history of Saint Joseph's College Athletics.

For St. Joe's, Allie Parent '12 (Camden, ME) tallied 14 points, three assists and two steals, Abby Young '14 (North Yarmouth, ME) registered 13 points and seven caroms, Lindsay Moore '14 (Somersworth, NH) added 12 points and eight boards, and Danyelle Shufelt '13 (Sutton, VT) chipped in with 12 points, six rebounds, and two steals.

Ashley Geel '12 (St. George, ME) had nine points and eight boards, Mackenzie Dufour '14 (Augusta, ME) dealt five assists and collected a pair of steals, and Theresa Hendrix '14 (Scarborough, ME/Cheverus) accumulated four assists, four caroms and two steals on the afternoon.

Bianca Brown '11 (West Haven, CT) paced the Falcons with a double-double effort of 17 points and 13 rebounds and Annie Raucci '14 (Milford, CT) chipped in with 10 points, all in the first half, in the loss.

Saint Joseph's essentially led from wire to wire, as the only Albertus advantage occurred 3:03 into play when Brown put her team up 5-3 with a bucket in the paint.

The Monks tied the game on their next possession when Young hit a layup and a McDevitt trifecta at the 16:08 mark put the Royal Blue ahead to stay.

Brown tapped in another layup to bring her team within seven points, 23-16, with 10:01 left in the opening half, but the Monks proceeded to go on a roll with eight unanswered points and led 31-16 after Young dropped a three at the 7:08 mark.

The Royal Blue extended the cushion to a first-half-high eight points when Shufelt netted a three-pointer two minutes later and carried a 42-31 advantage into the break.

In the first half, Saint Joseph's shot 41% from the floor, 38.5% from beyond the arc, and 71.4% from the FT line. Albertus shot 44.4% overall, 50% from three-point distance, and 71.4% from the stripe in the first 20 minutes of play.

McDevitt scored 10 points for the Monks, while Brown and Raucci both netted for the Falcons 10 in the opening half.

The visitors managed to cut their deficit to 11, 45-34, when Brown converted a traditional three-point play 1:34 into the second stanza but would not inch any closer to the lead as the Monks scored six unanswered points to regain momentum and a 51-34 cushion with 16:38 remaining.

Saint Joseph's secured its largest lead of the game when Shufelt made a layup off a Hendrix pass to make it an 81-53 game with 1:51 left. The teams swapped buckets during the closing minutes and Young connected on another layup in the final seconds to finalize the SJC effort and an 85-57 victory.

Saint Joseph's shot 46.6% (34-73) from the field, 26.3% (5-19) from three-point range, and 70.6% (12-17) from the line, while Albertus shot 41.5% (22-53) from the floor, 40% (2-5) from beyond the arc, and 61.1% (11-18) from the charity stripe.

The Monks held a 45-32 advantage on the glass and tied a season-high with 22 assists in the win. St. Joe's, now 5-0 in the history of the series with Albertus, forced 24 AMC turnovers and collected 14 steals on the afternoon.

For the Monks, the point total is the team's highest of the year and the margin of victory ranks second to the team's 62-32 win over Maine-Farmington, which took place at the Alfond six weeks ago.

Also, the Monks' bench outscored the starters, 44-41, and the Royal Blue outscored the visitors by a 50-34 margin in the paint. St. Joe's tallied 28 points off AMC turnovers and netted 21 second-chance points in the triumph.

Saint Joseph's will host Emmanuel College on Monday at 5:30 PM, while Albertus Magnus doesn't play again until next Saturday when the Falcons play host to GNAC foe Emerson College at 1:00 PM.