Basketball Opens With Victory

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) shot 8-for-12 from the floor and scored a game-high 19 points as the University of Saint Joseph basketball team defeated Johnson State 76-48 Saturday in the first round of the 17th Annual USJ Tip-Off Tournament at the O'Connell Center.

Union defeated Western New England 76-58 in the opening game. All four teams were playing their season openers.

Western New England will play Johnson State in Sunday's consolation game at noon. USJ will play Union in the final at 2 p.m. for the second consecutive year. Union defeated USJ 76-73 in overtime in last year's championship game.

USJ got off to a quick 9-1 lead on six points from Framski and a three-pointer from Lindsay Fedicia (Beacon Falls, CT), who scored her first points in over a year after missing her junior year due to injury. The lead grew to 19-9, but an 8-0 run, capped by a three-pointer from Brittany Robertson (Burlington, Verm.) got Johnson State within 19-17 with 3:54 left in the first half.

Framski had six more points and Lindsey Dionne (Portland, Conn.) three to help St. Joseph pull out to a 32-21 halftime lead.

The Blue Jays slowly stretched their lead in the second half. The lead got to 20 at 47-27 on a jumper from Brianna Ferraro (Waterbury, Conn.) with 13:53 to play and peaked at 30, 72-42 with 2:46 left on a free throw from Destinee White (West Hartford, Conn.)

Dionne finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Jays and Ferraro scored 10. Kasey DeGreenia (Conard, Verm.) had eight points and a game-high 17 rebounds for Johnson State and Sarah Voorhis (Nashua, N.H.) had a team-high 10 points for the Badgers.

Union 76, Western New England 58: Cailin Schmeer (Amber, Penn.) shot 10-for-11 from the field and scored a game-high 23 points to lead Union in the opener. Natalie Leone (Ashland, Mass.) had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Dutchwomen and Amy Fisher (Singapore) scored 10.

Dorothy O'Neill (Staten Island, N.Y.) scored 15 points for Western New England and Paige Young (Berlin, Conn.) had 14. Chelsea Vujs (Berlin, Conn.) added nine points and eight rebounds for the Golden Bears.

After a few early lead changes, WNE went up 17-13 on a pair of free throws by Vujs with 13:11 to play in the first half. But Union scored the next nine points and would not trail again, taking the lead for good at 18-17 on a Schmeer jumper with 10:54 left in the opening period.

Union led 34-28 at halftime, scored the first nine points of the second half and WNE could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way. Union shot 52 percent (29-for-56) from the field to 34 percent (20-for-59) for WNE.