Box Score ALBANY –The College of Saint Rose jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the opening six minutes and withstood a brief spurt by visiting
Northeast-10 Conference rival New Haven en route to a 70-53 “Senior Night” victory at the Daniel P. Nolan Gymnasium this evening. The Golden Knights (17-9/14-8 NE-10) outrebounded the Chargers by a 43-31 margin, including a 19-9 differential on the offensive glass that led to 16 second chance points, and forced them into 20 turnovers.
Saint Rose subsequently earned a seventh-seed in the upcoming 10-team NE-10 Tournament and will host 10th seed Saint Michael's in a first round game at 7:00 pm on Friday. The Golden Knights upended the Purple Knights 62-61 in the lone meeting of the season between the two schools back on January 21 in Albany. Friday's winner will then visit Southern Connecticut State for a 1:00 pm quarterfinal encounter on Sunday.
Appropriately, it was three seniors who did most of the damage tonight for Saint Rose. Senior guard
Ashley Rath further bolstered her legacy in school annals by going 5-for-6 from the arc on the way to a game-high 27 points. In the process, she moved into seventh place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,425 points.
Furthermore, senior forward
Ali Johnson registered her sixth “double-double” of the year via 11 points and 14 rebounds. She also recorded three blocks and handed out a pair of assists. Senior guard
Ola Shajuyigbe rounded out the trio of twin-figure scorers with 10 points to go along with three assists and four steals.
Meanwhile, freshman center Ashley LeBlanc posted a “double-double” of her own via 25 points and 10 boards to pace the Chargers (3-23/3-19 NE-10). Sophomore guard Anh-Dao Tran added 14 points while logging the entire 40 minutes.
After Saint Rose sailed out to its quick start, New Haven responded with a 13-5 spurt to get within six, 19-13, with 7:05 remaining until halftime. However, Rath then answered with one of her five 3-pointers on the evening to stem the tide.
It was still a nine point, 28-19, affair at the break, before LeBlanc scored twice inside and Tran drilled a trey to keep it interesting, 32-26, with two minutes gone by in the second stanza.
The Golden Knights then regained their composure and took control with a 13-1 run that put them in the driver's seat, 43-27, with 14:53 remaining after Rath rattled home yet another 3-pointer. New Haven got no closer than 12 points on four occasions the rest of the way while Saint Rose ran its home record to 13-1 on the year.
Prior to tonight's contest; Rath, Shajuyigbe, and Johnson were all honored during a brief ceremony along with fellow seniors
Alison McGrath and
Adrianna Gaeta.
Senior Night Photo Gallery
