Women's Basketball Clipped at St. Joseph's

Standish, Maine (2/12/13) – Saint Joseph's College clipped Lasell College, 60-45, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference women's basketball game at the Harold Alfond Center on Tuesday night. The Monks improved to 13-10 on the season and 7-3 in the league, while the Lasers fell to 9-14 on the year and 4-7 in conference contests.

For the Lasers, Autencio recorded a double-double effort with 15 points and 13 rebounds and Molly Lauver (Cambridge, N.Y.) tallied 13 points, five boards, three assists, two blocks and a pair of steals in a losing effort.

Junior forward Lindsay Moore (Barrington, N.H.) netted a game-high 17 points to help the Monks to a conference triumph. Senior guard Danyelle Shufelt (Sutton, Vt.) registered 12 points, five boards, two assists and a pair of steals, while Abby Young (North Yarmouth, Maine) netted 11 points with two blocked shots, and freshman center Morgan Cahill (Yarmouth, Maine) added seven points and 10 rebounds 

Saint Joseph's overcame a slow start to bring an end to a three-game losing streak, as the Lasers scored the game's first five points and held the lead until the Monks recorded a scoring outburst late in the first half. Trailing 17-11 with 6:48 before the break, the Royal Blue rattled off 16 unanswered points over the following 5:30 and carried a 27-21 advantage into intermission.

Still a two-possession game, the Lasers cut the Monks' cushion down to four points at 27-23  when sophomore forward Danielle Autencio hit a jumper 1:43 into the second stanza. The visitors would get no closer to the lead however, as hosts posted a 9-2 run and held a 36-25 cushion after Moore closed the burst with a bucket at the 15:36 mark.

A Lauver hoop made it a 36-27 game nearly two minutes later, but Saint Joseph's continued the cluster-scoring trend with a 15-6 outburst en route to claiming a game-high 18-point (51-33) lead with 7:36 remaining.

Lasell managed to cut their deficit to 11 points at 56-45 with 46 seconds remaining, but it would be too little, too late as Saint Joseph's coasted to a crucial conference triumph.

Overall, Saint Joseph's shot 36.5% from the field, 20% from three-point land and 43.5% from the free throw line. Lasell shot 38% from the floor, 22.2% from downtown and 50% from the charity stripe in the conference contest.

Saint Joseph's will play at Albertus Magnus College on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. while Lasell closes out GNAC play with a home contest versus Anna Maria College on Thursday in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.

In recognition of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Play4Kay initiative, both teams adorned pink warm-up tops and sported various types of pink apparel during the game. Play4Kay is named in honor of legendary North Carolina State University Head Women's Basketball Coach Kay Yow, who passed away in 2009 after facing her third bout of breast cancer, and is an opportunity for a nation of coaches to raise breast cancer awareness and funds for research. All gate proceeds, as well as funds generated by the Monks' tee-shirt sales leading up to the event, will be donated to the Maine Cancer Foundation.