Saturday, January 22, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – The Mount Ida College women's basketball dropped their third consecutive Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) loss falling this Saturday to visiting St. Joseph College (CT) 73-56 in Newton, Massachusetts. Despite 17 points and six steals from Mustang junior guard Jeileen Rivera (Springfield, MA/Springfield Central); the Mustangs could not keep up with the Blue Jays offensively who shot a near 50 percent from the floor. Mount Ida continues their skid falling to an overall record of 5-11 and drop to 2-3 in conference play while the visitors improve to 10-5 overall going 2-4 in the GNAC.
The Mustangs led once throughout the entire contest in the opening two and a half minutes (17:24) leading 5-4 after a three pointer from Rivera, her only one from behind the arc for the entire day.
The visitors proceed to surge on an offensive barrage powering a 14-0 run taking over a commanding 18-5 advantage with 10:48 to go in the first half capped off on a successful lay-in by Blue Jays freshman Courtney Cesca (Winsted, CT/Gilbert).
The double digit lead was sustained with the visitors making the margin a half high 13 point lead up 34-21 after another Cesca lay-in with just under a minute and a half to go before the midway point.
The Mustangs would pull within nine (34-25) after two successful free throw attempts by sophomore Kayla Musty (Topsham, CT/Oxbow) heading into the locker rooms for the final points of the half. The visitors dominated the paint scoring 20 of their 34 first stanza points under the basket.
Mount Ida would cut the Blue Jay lead down to seven points, twice, within the first five minutes of the second half on a trifecta by junior Shannon Wood (Gorham, ME/Bryant University) and a minute later on a lay-in by Rivera.
That's as close as the Mustangs would get while the visitors maintained a double digit advantage for the bulk of the second stanza on precision shooting and dominating the paint. The would eventually go up by a game high 20 points with under a minute remaining in the contest leading 73-53 after a lay-in by freshman Diamond Doe (Lynn, MA/Lynn Classical). The visitors ultimately closed out the 73-56 conference win.
Along with Rivera's 17, the Mustangs saw eight points and four rebounds from Musty. Wood, junior Amanda Bolio (Oxford, MA/Oxford), and freshman Abbey Fedigan (New Fairfield, CT/New Fairfield) chipped in seven points apiece and combined for 12 caroms. Wood added six dishes.
The visitors saw three players in double figures with freshman Devon Diliberto (Waterbury, CT/Holy Cross) notching a quiet game high 26 points on 9-16 shooting. Doe chipped in 14 points while freshman Shauna Sullivan (Rocky Hill, CT/Rocky Hill) added 11.
The Mustangs will travel to non-conference Curry College this coming Monday in Milton, Massachusetts with tip-off slated for 7:00 p.m.