Women's Basketball Falls to SUNY Geneseo Sunday Afternoon, 90-61

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) women's basketball team fell to SUNY Geneseo (Geneseo), 90-61, during the consolation game of the Hampton Inn Holiday Classic Sunday afternoon inside the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center in Springfield, Mass.  Graduate student guard Taylor Verboven (Columbia, Conn.), as a result of her solid weekend, was named to the All-Tournament team after. With the result, the Blue Jays dropped to 1-2 on the young season, while the Knights moved to 4-3.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Blue Jays would grab an early edge, taking a 9-5 lead at the 6:06 mark after back-to-back buckets from graduate student forward Jordan Ouellette (Bristol, Conn.).
• The Knights would respond with a 10-2 run though, establishing a 15-11 edge with 4:07 left in the first.
• USJ would tie the game at 17-17 after a basket from graduate student forward Maci Dorantes (Bristol, Conn.) but Geneseo closed the quarter on a 7-2 run, holding a 24-19 edge after the first quarter.
• After the two teams traded shots to start the second, USJ utilized a 6-2 stretch, featuring two points each from Ouellette, graduate student forward Olivia Heslin (Plainville, Conn.) and senior guard Maya Slisz (New Britain, Conn.) to close the deficit to two, 30-28, at the 6:21 mark.
• The Blue Jays continued to fight back, tying the game at 39-39 after an and-one layup by Ouellette with 1:52 remaining in the half.
• Dorantes would knock down a late layup to cut the gap to one, as USJ entered the halftime break trailing, 42-41.
• The Knights opened the third on a 4-0 run, extending the gap to 46-41 at the 8:55 mark.
• USJ would close the deficit to two, but a 7-0 Geneseo run saw the Blue Jays trail, 53-43, with five minutes left in the third.
• Geneseo continued to dominate the rest of the quarter, taking a 70-51 lead into the fourth.
• The Knights would outscore the Blue Jays in the fourth quarter, 20-10, to take home a 90-61 victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 

• Slisz finished with a team-high 16 points and seven assists.
• Verboven and Ouellette joined her in double figures, scoring 14 and 13 points, respectively.
• Verboven also hauled in a team-best eight rebounds.
• Freshman guard Nevaeh Yorke (Norwich, Conn.) racked up a team-best three steals.
• Geneseo outshot USJ, 58.7 percent to 37.5 percent.
• The Knights were lethal from long range, shooting a 42.1 percent clip (8-of-19) from beyond the arc.
• Geneseo won the battle on the glass, 43-30.

UP NEXT

The Blue Jays make their 2024-25 debut inside the James A. Calhoun Gymnasium, hosting intrastate foe Western Connecticut State University for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, November 26. Tipoff against the Wolves is set for 6:00 p.m.

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