MCLA women fall late at USJ 64-61

Courtesy of USJ Sports Information

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Senior forward Shauna Sullivan (Rocky Hill, Conn.) scored a career-high 16 points and matched a career high with 13 rebounds and the University of Saint Joseph defeated the Mass. College of Liberal Arts 64-61 Friday night in a non-conference game at the O'Connell Center.

Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) also had a double-double for the Blue Jays with 10 points and 11 rebounds and Lindsey Dionne (Portland, Conn.) also notched a career-high with 13 points. Devon Diliberto (Waterbury, Conn.) and Brianna Ferraro (Waterbury, Conn.) chipped in 10 points apiece for USJ.

Kaitlyn Chenevert (Uxbridge, Mass.) had team-highs of 13 points and nine rebounds for MCLA and Mariah Brown (Windsor Locks, Conn.) scored 10 for the Trailblazers.

USJ, which played its final game of the fall semester, improved to 5-4 overall. MCLA is 2-6. The Blue Jays won for the first time in the series, in the fifth meeting of the two schools.

MCLA had a 12-point lead at three spots in the second half, the last coming at 52-40 after a layup from Brown with 7:36 to play. But USJ scored the next 15 points and held the lead throughout despite some tense moments down the stretch. Framski had six points in the run and Dionne has a steal and fastbreak layup to put the Blue Jays ahead 53-52 and two free throws to make it 55-52 with 3:33 left.

Two Sullivan free throws with 18 seconds left put USJ ahead 63-57 and with MCLA out of timeouts, appeared to put the game away. But the Trailblazers had one last push left. Danielle Scolpino (Bethel, Conn.) made a three-pointer to get MCLA within 63-60 with 11 seconds left and a free throw from Ferraro made it 64-60 with 10 ticks to play. A USJ foul put Chenevert at the line with nine seconds left and after making one for a 64-61 score, she intentionally missed the second and Courtney McLaughlin (Pittsfield, Mass.) came up with an offensive rebound. But a late three-pointer missed and Framski cradled the rebound and held it as the final seconds ticked off.

St. Joseph is off until Jan. 2, 2014 when it plays a 5:30 p.m. game at Westfield State.  MCLA hosts Fisher Wed. Dec. 11 at 6 p.m.