Feb. 26, 2008

Box Score

Boston, MA - The Emmanuel Women's Basketball Team picked up the 20th win of the season on Tuesday night with a 78-46 victory over visiting Simmons College in the opening round of the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament. The Saints jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, holding the advantage from wire to wire.

Emmanuel's largest lead of the game came with 7:05 remaining in the contest, when the Saints led by 33 points. Emmanuel's pressure defense forced 37 Shark turnovers. The Saints put Simmons on the line 29 times, but the Sharks were plagued by poor free-throw shooting and connected on just 11 of 29 attempts (37.9%). Emmanuel tallied 22 steals in the game and scored 30 points off the fast break. The Saints out-rebounded the Sharks, 55-40, in the win.

Senior forward Jacque Pannell (Bloomfield, CT) led three Emmanuel players scoring in double figures. Pannell hit for 13 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and collected 3 steals in her 24 minutes of play. Sophomore forward Abigail Brenkach (Germantown, NY) had another big game for the Saints, hitting 5 of 8 shots from the floor for 11 points, while blocking 5 shots and pulling down 4 rebounds. Sophomore guard Iman Davis (Toms River, NJ) chipped in with 10 points and 7 boards, while senior guard Jade Paez (Bronx, NY) dished out a game-high 7 assists to go along with her 8 points and 7 rebounds.

Simmons was led by Lauren Kreckie's (Braintree, MA) 16 points. Senior forward Nikki Cohen (Wellesley, MA) added 9 points and a game-high 12 rebounds in the effort. The Sharks wrapped up their season with an overall record of 10-15.

Emmanuel improved to 20-6 on the season and will advance to the GNAC semifinals this Friday night (2/29). The Saints will host on the 4th-seeded Wildcats of Johnson & Wales University at 5pm. The Wildcats defeated visiting Emerson College, 66-64, in their quarterfinal match-up.

In tonight's other quarterfinal action, 3rd-seeded Norwich University defeated 6th-seeded St. Joseph's College (ME), 64-54. Second-seeded Suffolk University ousted 7th-seeded Rivier College, 72-56. Suffolk will now match up with Norwich in Friday's semifinal nightcap at 7:30pm.