Mercedes Perez Lifts St. Joe’s Women’s Basketball to Dominant Season Opening Win Over Medgar Evers

With a combination of new blood and returning talent, Division III St. Joseph’s University Women’s basketball put together a solid performance, especially in the second half, using junior guard Mercedes Perez’s game-best 29 points to trounce Medgar Evers, 87-59, Saturday afternoon to tipoff the season at the Hill Center in Brooklyn.

After a lackluster first half, Bears head coach Joe Giacchi said they settled in and performed much better once they became accustomed to each other in a real playing environment.

Also, St. Joe’s (1-0) switched up its defensive approach, which altered the game in favor of the Bears, Giacchi noted.

“The first half wasn’t great, but I kind of excepted that; that was our first time playing against someone else other than ourselves,” Giacchi said. “There were a little kinks that needed to be worked out.

“The second half, the (defensive) zone looked really, really good. It gave them a lot of trouble, so that kind of jump started our offense; we had a lot of fast break points after that. That helped us tremendously.”

Perez drained 10 points, helping the Bears claim a 24-15 advantage in the first quarter.

But the Cougars chipped away at the lead, tying the game at 26-26 with 6:44 to go in the second period. After connecting on one of two from the charity stripe, Medgar Evers (0-1) surged ahead for the first time at 27-26 with 6:13 left in the first half.

However, St, Joe’s survived the Cougars’ nice run and even tied and went ahead 30-28 on three points from Perez for a 30-28 advantage midway through the second quarter.

Senior Kristen Donovan made all three foul shots to close out the first half ahead by five points.

It was the third period, however, where the Bears were able to establish its dominance, outscoring Medgar Evers, 29-9, to take a 74-49 commanding lead by quarter’s end.

With the game in hand, Giacchi inserted his backups unto the affair, and they were able to help lockdown the 28-point victory in the end.

Giacchi said that holding to Cougars to 19 points in the second half was a definitive mark of the team’s improving defense, to go along with its potent offense. He said executing both factors on a game-by-game basis could make St. Joe’s a formidable opponent for anyone on its slate this season.

“I told them in practice yesterday, ‘I know we can score.’ If we could do that, coupled with playing really, really good defense, which we did in the second half, you put that together, then we become a real dangerous team.”

Additionally, with size and strength from new players such as 6-foot-4 freshman Tyrah Mack, and 5-11 Italian-born sophomore Emma Centrella, among other players, the Bears outscored Medgar Evers, 36-18, in the paint.

Donovan poured in 21 points, grabbed four rebounds, and had two blocks, while 5-foot-10 sophomore forward Nikki Grech contributed eight points and five boards. Cetrella added 6 points and four rebounds in the win.

Senior Alexis Davis scored a team-high 22 points and collected eight boards for the Cougars.

The Bears travel to Queens on Monday at 6:00 p.m. to take on York College.

— Jerry Del Priore