Lady Mariners Continue Early-Season Success

KINGS POINT, N.Y. - Kristen Hetsko poured in 20 points as the United States Merchant Marine Academy women's basketball team soundly defeated St. Joseph's (L.I.) by a score of 82-51 on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Mariners have matched their best start in school history through six games.

USMMA improved to 5-1 overall, 0-1 in Landmark Conference action. St. Joseph's (L.I.) dropped to 3-3 overall, 2-1 in Skyline Conference play.

"I thought we came out very strong and confident," said co-captain Morgan Gartner after the game. "We didn't let last week's loss (to Drew) get to us at all. I was very proud of the team for putting that behind them and moving forward."

Hetsko shot 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range in the game to lead all scorers. Janay Weathers scored a season-high 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Gartner just missed a double-double after ending the game with 10 points and nine boards.

Brooke Picillo matched a career-best with eight rebounds and also accumulated nine assists, five steals and four points. Kiersten Healy set a career high with seven boards to go along with five points.

St. Joseph's was led by Trish McMahon's 16 points. Dana Carney grabbed a team-best seven boards for the Golden Eagles.

USMMA got on the board just eight seconds into the game on its first possession. Standing on the right elbow, Gartner found Hetsko going back door for a layup to put the Mariners up 2-0.

The Golden Eagles tied the game twice early on, but the Mariners went on a 10-0 run to take a 15-5 advantage with over five minutes gone by in the game and would never look back. USMMA built its lead to as many as 15 points and had a 42-28 advantage going into halftime.

Six different scorers helped USMMA go on a 16-0 run to put the game out of reach at 67-33 midway through the second half. For the remaining minutes of the contest, the Mariner bench helped to keep the lead around 30 points.

Erin Holihan scored her first career points and finished with six in the game to go with two rebounds. She was also a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. Meghan Dillard finished with two points and four rebounds while Kaitlin Mulgrew added eight points in the contest. All in all, the Mariner bench outscored the Golden Eagle bench by a count of 27-15.

"I was proud of the freshmen today," said Gartner. "They definitely stepped up their game. (The freshmen) played like I always knew they could play. I think they are gaining more confidence every game."

In addition to getting strong contributions from the bench and the freshmen, the Mariners outrebounded the Golden Eagles by a count of 56-23. USMMA had 25 boards on the offensive end.

Head Coach Mike Murray was pleased with the Mariners' effort on the offensive glass and overall.

"That's one of our goals," he explained. "When it comes to crashing the boards, we want to grab 20 or more offensive rebounds per game. I think we do a good job in practice emphasizing that and we therefore did a great job crashing the boards in the game. Sometimes we might pick up a foul here and there, but as coaches, we want them to continue to be aggressive. Those extra possessions help and can make a big difference."

USMMA will host City Tech on Wednesday night. The Mariners took a 67-62 overtime loss when the teams met last season despite getting 30 points from Hetsko.

"We are ready for City Tech," said Gartner. "We are out to win without any overtimes this year. We want to win and beat them badly."

The Mariners are already 2-0 against CUNYAC schools this season. Game time is 6 p.m.