STANDISH — They high-fived their opponents after the game, collected their gear and walked off the court.

No big celebration for the St. Joseph College women’s basketball players, despite the milestone of their 66-45 win Thursday night over Regis.

This was the 18th straight victory for the Monks, a school record, and the third-best current streak in NCAA Division III.

“It’s a big win because it was our next game,” said forward Emily Benway, who contributed 14 points and 12 rebounds. “Honestly, we don’t (think about the streak). We know what’s in front of us. We know we have to win games to get where we want to be.”

The Monks are 19-1 overall, 11-0 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference after shooting down a contender in Regis (12-8, 10-2).

With five games remaining in the regular season, the Monks are on track for the top seed in the conference tournament. And should the wins keep coming, they will challenge the school record for victories (25) set in 1989-90.

Advertisement

But forget about getting the Monks to talk about that, if the current streak is a hush-hush topic.

“(The streak) was in the back of our minds, but that’s not what’s important to us,” said junior guard Julia Champagne, who also scored 14 points. “At halftime we made some adjustments and took it to them.”

Regis, with its 1-3-1 zone defense, kept it close for a half, trailing 27-22. But the Monks went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter and eventually opened a 50-34 lead.

“We really attacked and got some good looks,” St. Joseph Coach Mike McDevitt said.

Guard Kelsi McNamara had 12 points, seven rounds and six assists.

“Kelsi will drive and take the (defender) and get me a wide-open shot,” said Champagne, who hit 4 of 7 3-pointers.

Advertisement

But the offense was only the frosting for this win.

St. Joseph’s man-to-man defense was suffocating. Regis’ 6-foot-1 senior Brittany Stone was averaging 19 points a game. She scored 14, but half of those came in the fourth quarter when the Monks were comfortably ahead.

“She has very strong post moves and I just had to stay between her and the basket,” said the 5-foot-10 Benway, who covered Stone well, as did 5-9 Brianne Maloney and 5-9 Regan McFerran.

Stone shot 6 of 9, but her teammates hit only 10 of 40.

“They definitely packed it in. We weren’t able to hit shots, and they controlled the boards,” said Regis Coach Angela Santa Fe, a former standout player for the University of Southern Maine (Class of 2011).

Stone also had 13 rebounds, but that was half of Regis’ total.

Advertisement

The Monks outrebounded the Pride, 48-26.

NOTES: This is Regis’ first season in the GNAC after the Pride won five straight New England Collegiate Conference titles. Santa Fe is in her fifth season as head coach, and is 103-30 … Santa Fe was not the only Regis coach making a homecoming. Pride assistant Sarah Assante was a stellar point guard for St. Joseph’s, graduating in 2015.

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.