The Mount Ida College women's basketball team dropped their second consecutive Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss to St. Joseph's College (ME), 81-56, this Saturday afternoon during Lupus awareness week. The Mustangs fall to 4-9 overall and remain winless in the conference while the Monks improve to 8-8 on the year and notch their first GNAC victory at 1-2.
It was back and forth for most of the first half with Mount Ida holding a steady advantage up six points at 11-5 after a 6-0 run capped off by freshman Katie Morvan (Northbridge, MA/Northbridge) at the charity stripe.
The lead would not last long while the Monks took full advantage of the Mustangs mistakes. The visitors slowly crept away up by nine points with 3:44 remaining before the break ahead 28-19 on a Carolyn Freeman (Scarborough, ME/Catherine McAuley) trifecta. The half would end with St. Joe's leading by nine at 33-24.
It was a different story in the second stanza for the Mustangs with the visitors quickly blowing the game open leading by 18 points with 13:41 to go. The Monks advantage would remain in the double digit range for the rest of the contest. Mount Ida cut down the large margin down to 13 with 8:40 left in the game but it wasn't enough to mount a significant comback.
Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the visitors pounded the offense and extended the lead to a game high 28 points with a little over a minute to play in the game. The Monks eventually took home the 81-56 victory, their first GNAC win of the season.
Mount Ida had a tough day from the field going 18-61 for 29 percent while the visitors shot over 50 percent going 29-55. The Mustangs also struggled from the three point arc going 4-13 for 30 percent with the Monks benefiting with solid outside shooting at 8-15 good for 53 percent.
Junior captain Cherie Parisi (South Attleboro, MA/Attleboro) led the Mustangs with 16 points, seven caroms, and three steals. Freshman Hannah Blum (Raleigh, NC/Broughton) notched 12 points and five boards along with junior Ashley Boyd (Hanson, MA/Hanson-Brookline) tallying six points.
The Monks had three players in double figures led by Freeman who was solid from three point land knocking down four and netting a game high 18 points and five rebounds. Junior Meghan Daigle (Grantham, NH/Lebanon) and freshman Ashley Greel (St. George, ME/Georges Valley) chipped in 12 a piece.
The Mustangs will get on the road and head south to Providence, Rhode Island to face Johnson & Wales University this coming Monday starting at 5:30 p.m.