Second-Seeded Stonehill Upset By St. Rose, 67-59

 

Bethany Tighe had her 10th double-double of the season (12 points, 10 rebounds) in the 67-59 loss to St. Rose.

 

St. Rose Upsets Second-Seeded Stonehill Upset By St. Rose, 67-59

Boxscore

Easton, Mass. - A quartet of St. Rose players reached double figures, led by Elizabeth Buckley's 18 points and the visiting Golden Knights knocked off second seeded Stonehill, 67-59, in the quarterfinal round of the Northeast-10 Tournament on Tuesday evening at Merkert Gymnasium.

The win for St. Rose is the Golden Knights third win over the Skyhawks this season and second in less than two weeks. The loss also marks the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Skyhawks wont advance to the semifinal round of the tournament.

The Golden Knights came out firing - connecting on six three-pointers in the first 11 minutes of play to take a 20-14 lead.

St. Rose kept their advantage into halftime as they got key bench points from Suzana Sormaz and Ali Johnson.

Stonehill, meanwhile, struggled to find its shooting touch, making just 37 percent of its first half shots, including a 4-for-16 showing from behind the arc.

Things stayed the same in the second half, as the Golden Knights attacked the basket and shot 58 percent in the final 20 minutes.

With the St. Rose lead at 50-42, the Skyhawks ran off seven straight points, capped by an Amanda Smith (Penacook, N.H.) baseline jumper, to get to within one at 50-49 with less than five minutes left.

The Golden Knights had an answer, however, as they produced an 8-0 spurt which featured seven points from Dana Brown to give the visitors their largest lead of the game at 58-49 with 3:11 left.

St. Rose made nine of ten free throws over the final three minutes to advance to the semifinal round on Friday evening and secure its 20th win of the season.

In addition to Buckley, Brown finished with 17, 15 of which came in the second half, and Amy Voelkel had 10 points, 11 rebounds and five steals.

Emily Rousseau (Biddeford, Maine) paced Stonehill with 13 points, while Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass.) had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists and Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass.) chipped in with 11 points and eight boards.

The Skyhawks 20-8 overall, will learn their NCAA future on Sunday evening with the tournament field is announced.