Albany, NY –The Sage Colleges' women's basketball team hosted the Golden Eagles of St. Joseph's College on Thursday night in the Kahl Center in the squad's Skyline Conference opener. St. Joseph's tallied a 69-57 win behind senior forward Amanda Bender's (East Northport, NY/Northport) 24 points. St. Joseph's improves to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the Skyline Conference, while Sage drops to 0-5 overall and 0-1 in the league.
Sage held a 40-37 halftime lead after making seven three-point baskets. St. Joseph's tied the action with a three-pointer by Bender at 18:33 for a 42 all score. She hit a layup at 14:05 for the next score of the game and gave her team the lead for good.
The Golden Eagles had five players finish in double-digit scoring on the night as junior guard Christina Cohen (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown East) finished with 12 points and four assists and made three three-point baskets. Joining her with an 11-point effort was junior Danielle Hamlin (Centereach, NY/Centereach), while senior guard Ashley Larrea (Medford, NY/Patchogue-Medford) and junior Laura Cohen (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown East) both finished with 10 points each.
For the game, the Golden Eagles made 10 three-point baskets, while the Gators finished with seven and were unable to convert in the second half after making 43.8% of their shots from beyond the arch.
Sage's freshman Sara Tironi (Cambridge, NY/ Cambridge Central) led the team with her 13 points, while junior Chelsea Martin (Davenport, NY/Jefferson Central) added 10 points and a team-leading eight rebounds.
Sophomore forward Amie Jefferson (Albany, NY/Colonie Central) had one block on the evening and is now six shy of the Sage career blocked shot record as she now has 59. The current record is held by Kelly Murphy with 65 (1999-2002).
Sage returns to action on December 1 hosting Purchase College in the Kahl Center at 1 p.m. in a Skyline Conference game. St. Joseph's College (LI) returns to action on November 30 competing in the Wesleyan University tournament and will face Mitchell College at 8 p.m.
