Simmons College picked up a hard-fought win on the road last night over conference foe Saint Joseph College of Connecticut, 63-56, in overtime. With the win, the Sharks improved to 14-6 on the year and 5-2 in GNAC play, while the Blue Jays fall to 3-17 on the year and 1-7 GNAC.
In the first half, the Blue Jays drained five three-pointers while holding the Sharks to just nine percent from long range and held a 27-26 advantage at the intermission. SJC would lead by as many as six in the second half, but the Sharks answered the call each time in a contest that featured seven ties.
With just eight seconds to play and the score tied at 50-50, the Sharks used crisp passing to find senior guard Lauren Kreckie (Braintree, Mass.) under the hoop for a layup to make it a two-point contest. Following a Blue Jays timeout, Nathalie Mastarreno (Glastonbury, Conn.) drove the length of the floor and drained a runner with just 2.7 seconds to knot the game at 52-all. The Sharks were unable to sink a shot to decide the score and sent the game to overtime.
In the overtime period, the Sharks drew first blood as junior forward Stephanie Fox (West Springfield, Mass.) came away with a steal and a layup with 4:00 left in the game. Blue Jays' Ilaria Schiano (Wallingford, Conn.) hit a free throw to bring the Blue Jays within a point, but Simmons used a 7-0 run capped by a pair of free throws from junior guard Julianna Eagles (Quincy, Mass.) to take a 61-53 lead with just 37 seconds remaining. Schiano would then hit a long three with 27 seconds to play to make it a 61-56 affair but the Sharks lead proved insurmountable. Simmons outscored their opponent 11-4 in overtime to take the 63-56 GNAC win.
Fox led all scorers with 20 points and nine rebounds to go along with four blocks and three steals, while Eagles, a transfer from Anna Maria College, finished with 17 points including 10-12 from the free throw line to reach her 1,000th career point.
Head Coach Tony Price credits the "outstanding play of our role players who came up BIG for us tonight:" Freshman forward Alex Acloque (Randolph, Mass.) scored 5 critical points and grabbed 3 rebounds during an offensive drought, while freshman guard Jessica Thomas (Sandwich, Mass.) and sophomore guard Morgan Johnson (Waterbury, Conn.) helped spark Simmons' rally from behind on the defensive end of the floor. Junior forward Aubree Giarrosso (Rockport, Mass.) scored 6 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.
Simmons Basketball returns to action on Saturday, February 7 at 1:00pm when they host Lasell College at home.