Basketball Clinches Playoff Spot Despite Loss

BOSTON, Mass. – Senior forward Fiona O'Dwyer (Stamford, Conn.) scored a game-high 24 points as the Emmanuel College women's basketball team defeated the University of Saint Joseph, 71-40 Tuesday night in a GNAC game at the Jean Yawkey Center.

Emmanuel, which has a four-year, 40-game unbeaten streak in conference play, improved to 19-5 overall and 11-0 in the GNAC. Saint Joseph is 13-9 overall and 5-5 in the conference.

Despite the loss, St. Joseph clinched a berth in the GNAC tournament. Lasell's 60-45 loss to St. Joseph's (Maine) means the Blue Jays can finish no lower than eighth in the final conference standings and will appear in the tournament after a one-year absence.

O'Dwyer scored 10 points in the first eight minutes to help the Saint to an early 15-5 lead, which became 31-12, then 33-18 at halftime. The Blue Jays chipped away at the Saints' lead out of the break, scoring 11 points in the first five minutes of the second half and trailed 43-29 at 14:30. USJ would then cap a 6-3 run with a backdoor cut and layup from Feducia, to cut its deficit to 46-35 with under ten to go. But a 10-0 Emmanuel run put the Saints again in control. Emmanuel shot 50.8 percent (31-for-61) on the night while the Blue Jays were held to 28.6 percent (15-for-56).  

Lindsay Feducia (Beacon Falls, Conn.) led the Blue Jays with nine points and six rebounds. Claire Consonni (Bristol, Conn.) scored seven points for USJ and Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) had seven rebounds.

Tuesday's contest was one of the GNAC's "Play 4 Kay" games, to raise breast cancer awareness. Proceeds from the game will be donated to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) cancer fund in honor of the late Kay Yow, former North Carolina State women's basketball coach.
  
Saint Joseph will host its own Play 4 Kay game, Sat. Feb. 16 against River at 1 p.m. Before that, the Blue Jays play at Mount Ida, Thursday at 7 p.m. in a make-up of a game that was postponed from last Saturday.