St. Joseph’s wins women’s basketball HVIAC championship
The St. Joseph’s College women’s basketball team won the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) championship, defeating Albany Pharmacy 74-63 behind a 28-point performance by senior Samantha Retas in Albany on Sunday.
“We started off great, but aside from one or two runs, we really controlled the game and put it away late,” said Bears head coach Frank Carbone. “The tough part was the atmosphere in their arena. The crowd was crazy. It seemed like we were up against a lot of odds, so it was particularly gratifying to beat them.”
St. Joseph’s got off to a hot start behind seniors Retas and Taylor Raccuglia as well as freshman Destiny Marino, who combined to score 29 points in the first half. The Bears were up 27-19 when Retas sprained her ankle and was forced to leave the game. She would only miss a couple of minutes, but Albany Pharmacy cut the lead to two points in her absence.