Senior point guard Lisa Belmonte (Holy Trinity/Levittown, NY) scored 21 points grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists to lead second-seeded Norwich University to a 67-53 win over seventh seed St. Joseph's (CT) College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference tournament women's basketball game on Wednesday night at Andrews Hall.
Norwich led 15-13 with 13:08 to play in the first half before going on an 11-2 run, fueled by a pair of jumpshots by both Belmonte and Kristen Purcell (S. Glens Falls/S. Glens Falls, NY), to grab control of the game 26-15 with 7:42 to play in the half.
"I thought we came out with real good intensity," said Norwich head coach Steve Lanpher. "Lisa really gave us a lot of leadership and got us going early." Belmonte scored 10 of her 21 in the first half.
Norwich held a 38-24 lead at the intermission, then started the second half with a 9-1 run to push the lead up to 22 points, 47-25, with 17:26 left in the game.
The Blue Jays chipped away at the Cadets lead throughout the second half, but could never get closer than 10 points, 58-48 with 2:41 left to play after a pair of free throws by Tahnesha Bonner (Bridgeport, CT).
Norwich improves to 21-5 on the season, and advances to the GNAC final four to play Albertus Magnus, a 59-57 winner over WNEC toninght, at 8:00 on Friday at Simmons College in Boston in the semifinals.
Belmonte, who moved into fourth place on the Cadets all time scoring list with 1,240 points, led four Cadets in double figures; junior Kim Sweeney (Fair Haven/Fair Haven, VT) added 13, and seniors Heather LaBranche (Bow/Bow, NH) and Purcell added 12 each.
St. Joseph's finished the season with an 11-13 overall record. The Blue Jays got 16 points from Bonner, 14 from Dejshona George (Bronx, NY), and 10 from Edna Caamano (East Hartford, CT).
Newspaper Box Score St. Joseph's College vs Norwich University 2/25/04 7:00 pm at Andrews Hall, Northfield, VT At Andrews Hall, Northfield, VT NORWICH UNIVERSITY 67, ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE 53 ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE (11-13) Tahnesha Bonner 6-14 2-3 16; Dejshona George 5-8 4-4 14; Edna Caamano 3-10 3-4 10; Tanya Banas 2-7 0-0 6; Corrine Byrne 1-5 4-5 6; Maureen Christ 0-6 1-2 1; Theresa Roback 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 14-18 53. NORWICH UNIVERSITY (21-5) Lisa Belmonte 7-11 6-6 21; Kim Sweeney 6-13 0-0 13; Heather LaBranche 5-8 2-4 12; Kristen Purcell 5-9 2-2 12; Miranda Perras 3-7 0-1 7; Diana Monahan 0-3 1-2 1; Sarah Chap 0-1 0-0 0; Jamie Abrams 0-5 0-0 0; Leslie Conway 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-58 12-16 67. St. Joseph's College.......... 24 29 - 53 Norwich University............ 38 29 - 67 3-point goals-St. Joseph's College 5-12 (Tanya Banas 2-3; Tahnesha Bonner 2-3; Edna Caamano 1-2; Maureen Christ 0-4), Norwich University 3-14 (Kim Sweeney 1-2; Miranda Perras 1-2; Lisa Belmonte 1-3; Diana Monahan 0-3; Jamie Abrams 0-2; Heather LaBranche 0-2). Fouled out--St. Joseph's College-None, Norwich University-None. Rebounds-St. Joseph's College 31 (Edna Caamano 9), Norwich University 40 (Miranda Perras 8). Assists-St. Joseph's College 11 (Tanya Banas 4), Norwich University 17 (Lisa Belmonte 5). Total fouls-St. Joseph's College 14, Norwich University 14. A-127 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Quarterfinal-#2 Norwich vs. #7 St. Joseph Norwich advances to GNAC Final Four to be played at Simmons College in Boston on Friday and Saturday (hosted by top seed Emmanuel). Norwich will play the winner of tonight's Albertus Magnus-WNEC game in Friday's semifinal.