Recap:
Jersey City, NJ (December 29, 2007) – The Saint Peter’s Peahens (7-4) revived themselves from their loss to Syracuse with a 62-50 victory over the Penn Quakers (3-8) in the SPC Holiday Tournament. Saint Peter’s advances to the Championship game after being knocked out by Ball State last year. The backcourt tandem of Tania Kennedy and Johnell Burts were too much for the Quakers as they both finished with 19 points apiece. Burts with her new career high of 19 also added four assists and four steals while Kennedy had eight boards and three steals. Penn’s Carrie Biemer led the Quakers with 22 points.
Saint Peter’s opened the game 16-5 in the early goings with Burts scoring nine at the 11:30 mark. The Quakers sparked a 9-0 run to get back into it at 16-14. The Peahens extended the lead 21-14 but Penn kept creeping back to cut it to two at 21-19. That would be as close as they would come. Saint Peter’s suffocating defense held Penn to just one field goal in the last seven minutes in the half with the bucket coming with nine seconds left. The Peahens took a 31-23 advantage into the locker room.
Biemer led all scorers with 16 points at the break. Burts directed the Peahens with 11 points with nine in the first seven minutes along with four assists. Saint Peter’s shot 11-32 (34%) from the field while holding Penn to just 8-18 (44%). The Quakers held a 19-14 rebound advantage.
The Peahens applied the defensive pressure in the second half forcing them into two 24-second violations to go on top 39-25. Saint Peter’s jumped out to their largest lead of 17 at the nine minute mark 48-31. The Quakers battled tough but could not bring the deficit to single digits as the Peahens upended Penn 62-50 to advance to the championship game.
Jessica Coles netted eight points with three boards and two blocks in her first career start. Natasha “Shooter” Morris finished with seven points with four rebounds and three steals for the Peahens. Saint Peter’s shot 19-50 (38%) from the floor while holding Penn to 15-45 (33%). The Quakers out rebounded the Peahens 36-30. Saint Peter’s scored 29 points off of turnovers.
Saint Peter’s will host the High Point University Panthers at 7:30pm in the championship game of the SPC Holiday Tournament.
