FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The St. Joseph's University, New York (Brooklyn) women's basketball team suffered a 62-57 defeat by Farmingdale State College on Wednesday night. 

The Bears held the advantage for much of the opening period as Judith Vila (Vilassar de Mar, Spain) and Kristen Donovan (Maspeth, N.Y.) connected on three-pointers. Five of the Rams' seven points in the final 2:27 came on free throws, enough to hold a 15-13 at the end of the frame.

The second quarter featured five lead changes. Donovan continued to pace the offense as she, and Mercedes Perez (San Antonio, Texas) combined for 16 of the Bears' 20 points in the stanza. A Donovan drive to the cup with under a minute was quickly followed by a Rams triple to tie the game at 33 at the half.

SJBK withstood a pair of ties in the third to take control of the period. Nikki Grech (Northville, Mich.) opened her scoring account in the period, posting a team-best five points in the frame to join the contributions of Donovan, Vila, and Perez, as the Bears possessed a 46-43 edge entering the fourth.

Farmingdale State's offense surged in the fourth. Following a St. Joseph's score to begin the quarter, the hosts scored the next eight unanswered points to take the lead, 51-48, with four minutes remaining. Despite the Bears cutting it close, the Rams saw an eight-point lead with 33 seconds left, the largest for either team. The Bears ultimately fell by five.

Perez topped all scorers with 20 points, followed by Donovan with 15. The former collected eight boards while the latter totaled seven. Vila finished with 10 points, six steals, and four rebounds as the trio featured in all 40 minutes of action.

Grech logged a near-double-double of nine rebounds and eight points while Emma Centrella (Varese, Italy) had a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Bears return to The Hill Center this Saturday, January 24 at 12 pm, hosting the United States Merchant Marine Academy.