Old Westbury Pulls Away in Second Half to Foil Lady Golden Eagles

Old Westbury, N.Y. - The St. Joseph's (L.I.) Golden Eagles women's basketball team fell to Old Westbury in a convincing 72-54 Skyline Conference score on the road Tuesday evening at the Clark Athletic Center.  With the season sweep of St. Joseph's (L.I.), Old Westbury (9-10) improves to 3-4 in conference play while sending the Golden Eagles' (4-15) Skyline league record to 2-6.

The Golden Eagles were led by Andrea Iavarone's (Miller Place, N.Y. /Miller Place) 13 points and 10 rebounds.  Claire Brady (Center Moriches, N.Y./Center Moriches) and Meaghan Haber (East Northport, N.Y./John Glenn) followed with 11 and 10 points, respectively. 

For the Panthers, Crystal Barnes paced the club with game-highs of 16 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks in the win.  Raven Pentz followed with 14 points, four steals and four rebounds while Nikki Alexander produced nine rebounds and seven points in 13 minutes off the bench.  Chloe Mellon added nine points, six rebounds and two steals.  Clarissa Gallagher and Jasmine Robinson each chipped in with eight points.

Moments after taking a 2-0 lead, Old Westbury added to its margin with a 5-0 run as Barnes accounted for all seven of the Panthers' points 3:44 into play.  St. Joseph's answered with a 14-3 run from 15:52 to 10:49 to take a 16-10 lead.  Jennifer Gubell (Levittown, N.Y./MacArthur) then gave the Golden Eagles its largest lead of the game after connecting on a jumper at the 9:12 mark for an eight-point cushion (20-12).  Old Westbury responded with a 12-2 spree for a brief 24-22 lead with 4:12 remaining.  Both teams scored 12 points apiece over the final 3:36 as the Panthers held a 36-34 advantage at the half. Old Westbury closed out the first-half scoring off Bridgid McNeill's free throws with 15 seconds left to grab the lead for good. 

Old Westbury roared out of the second-half gates and never looked back, using a 15-4 run from 15:46 to 8:47 to grab a 55-42 lead.  The Golden Eagles pulled within eight points before Old Westbury's lead blossomed to as many as 19 points off an 11-0 run in the closing minutes.     

In the end, Old Westbury shot 41 percent from the field (25-61), 16.7 percent from three-point range (2-12) and 60.6 percent from the free-throw line (20-33) while the Golden Eagles were limited to 25.7 percent shooting from the floor (19-74), 25 percent from beyond the arc (6-24) and 45.5 percent from the charity stripe (10-22).  Old Westbury won the boards battle, 60-45, scoring 12 points off 16 offensive rebounds.  Old Westbury nabbed 11 steals and scored 18 points off 18 Golden Eagle turnovers.  

SJC will next face Sage on Saturday in a Skyline Conference road game.

(Recap details courtesy of Old Westbury Sports Information)