Basketball Edged at Norwich, 74-70

NORWICH, Verm. – Norwich University rebounded from a 13-point halftime deficit to defeat the University of Saint Joseph basketball team 74-70 Tuesday in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference game.

Norwich improved to 10-2 overall on the season and 2-1 in the GNAC. USJ is 5-9 overall and was playing its conference opener.

Brianna Ferraro (Waterbury, Conn.) scored a team-high 20 points and added four assists for the Blue Jays. Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) scored 17 for USJ and Carlee Putnam (Niantic, Conn.) had 10. Framski also blocked two shots which gave her 99 for her career and tied a 16-year old school record. Kristen King also had 99 from 1995-99.

Framski scored 13 and Ferraro 11 in the first 20 minutes and USJ shot 60 percent (18-for-30) in building a 43-30 halftime lead.

Norwich trimmed its deficit to four in the early stages of the second half, but a layup from Framski made it 51-45 with 14:10 to play in the game. Norwich then went on a 14-0 run to take control. A jumper from Arianna Harrison (Vernon, Verm.) put Norwich up 52-51 with 11:37 left and a layup from Heather LeBlanc (Sanford, Maine) concluded the run with Cadets up 59-51 with 9:00 remaining.

The Blue Jays got within three points on three occasions, the last at 71-68 on a jumper from Ferraro with 38 seconds left, but the Cadets made three free throws in the final 32 ticks to seal it.

LeBlanc shot 11-for-13 and scored a game-high 24 points and Harrison had 12 points and 13 rebounds for Norwich. Lindsay Feducia (Beacon Falls, Conn.) had nine points, seven rebounds and four assists for USJ.

St. Joseph hosts Lasell Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.