The University of Saint Joseph Blue Jays defeated the Albertus Magnus College women's basketball team 81-72 Wednesday night at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center in New Haven, Conn.
The first half opened up with back and forth action between the Falcons and the Blue Jays. Senior guard Nicole Acerra (East Haven, Conn.) opened up the game with three straight assists as the Falcons opened up the game with a 6-2 lead. After a 10-4 lead for the Falcons, University of Saint Joseph scored eight straight points led by two three pointers by Brianna Ferraro to take the lead 12-10.
The game was played within five points the entire time until the Blue Jays opened up an eight point lead with 5:30 left in the first half. After a few substitutions, the Falcons rebounded with an 11-2 run to bring the game within one point at 29-30. The run was sparked with great free throw shooting from the Falcons, going four for four in the stint. The run was finished off with a deep three from Annie Sutila (Bridgeport, Conn.).
The Blue Jays outshot the Falcons in the first half shooting 37% from the floor while the Falcons only shot 31%. University of Saint Joseph also dominated in the paint as they out-rebounded the Falcons 34-15 including 17 offensive rebounds for the Blue Jays. Blue Jays Devon Diliberto led all scorers with 11 points in the first half. Albertus was strong from the line hitting seven out of their eight shots. Lianna Carrero (Hamden, Conn.) led the Falcons in scoring and rebounds with nine points and four boards.
Carrero started to heat up in the second half scoring seven of the first 11 points for the Falcons. She ended the game with 29 points after scoring only nine in the first half. Carrero added six rebounds and two assists to her totals.
The Blue Jays led 50-42 with 13:10 left in the game. Carrero instantly got the Falcons right back in the game with back to back three pointers just 20 seconds apart to draw the game to 50-48. The Blue Jays attack was too much for the Falcons however as the Blue Jays replied with a 8-2 run to gain a 60-52 lead. The Blue Jays kept the difference for the rest of the game and improved their record to 12-12 overall and 5-5 in the GNAC. The Falcons fall to 5-19 overall and 2-8 in the GNAC.
Mary Hyde ended up with a double-double for the Blue Jays grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring 12 points. She also added nine assists to her stats, one assist shy of a triple-double. Diliberto led the Blue Jays in scoring with 22, knocking two shots down from long range. Diliberto and Hyde played all 40 minutes of the contest.
The Falcons end out the season this Saturday at 1:00 P.M. as they take on the Saints of Emmanuel College at the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center in New Haven, Conn.
