St. Joseph's 76, Bates 66
at Lewiston, Maine

HOT START LIFTS ST. JOE'S WOMEN PAST BATES, 76-66

LEWISTON, Maine — In a match-up of Maine top-five teams, the visiting St. Joseph's College Monks hit 14 of their first 18 shots and never looked back, taking a 76-66 decision over the host Bates College Bobcats in a non-conference game in Alumni Gymnasium tonight.

St. Joseph's (20-2) opened up a 31-11 lead in the first 10 minutes on their 78 percent shooting. Sophomore center Abbie Rice (So. Portland, Maine) hit on 10 of her 14 points in the opening 10 minutes, while rookie Laura Pelkey (Palmyra, Maine) nailed four of her five 3-point shots en route to a game-high 16 first-half points.

Bates (15-6) closed the half on a 9-2 run over the final 3:41 of the first to climb within eight points at 39-31. Bobcat rookie Olivia Zurek (Arlington, Mass.) scored four points and contributed an assist in the run. Bates had a chance to close the gap early in the second half, but the Bobcats were unable to convert on their first two possessions. St. Joe's opened on a 10-4 run to gain a 49-35 lead less than six minutes into the second and never trailed by fewer than nine points the rest of the way.

Monk senior Stacey Gelinas (Biddeford, Maine) scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the second half by hitting five of her six field goal attempts and going six-of-eight from the line. She had game-highs with nine rebounds and five assists. Pelkey finished with 18 points by missing only one shot, going 5-6 from the floor, including 4-5 from beyond the arc, 4-4 from the line. Rice added 12 points and first-year forward Lynn Marcotte (Hudson, N.H.) had 11. The Monks shot 49 percent from the field (28-57), compared to 36 percent for the Bobcats (26-72), while also owning a 45-33 rebounding margin.

For Bates, Zurek led five players in double figures with 12 points and posted team-highs with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior Kate Dockery (New York, N.Y.) had 11 points in her final regular season game in Alumni Gym, while junior Carla Flaherty (Gorham, Maine) and sophomores Lauren Dubois (Beverly, Mass.) and Kim Hoffman (Natick, Mass.) each had 10 points.

Box score available