February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia endured an earlier than expected departure from the Atlantic 10 Conference women’s basketball tournament. Xavier of Cincinnati took the Hawks to overtime in a semifinal game, where the Ohio school came away with an 84-78 victory. St. Joe’s Susan Moran carried much of the offensive load, scoring 27 points on 11-for-22 shooting from the floor, as well as hitting all five free throws. She also had seven rebounds before fouling out in the final minute. St. Joe’s reached the semis by defeating Dayton, 66-61. Moran, a sophomore from Tullamore, Co. Offaly, was high scorer in the game with 16 points. She shot 6-for-11 from the floor and 4-for-7 from the line. She also received credit for seven rebounds and four assists.
Manhattan College had a similar experience in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament. The Lady Jaspers won a quarterfinal round game over Marist, 54-48, with Siobhan Kilkenny scoring six points and wrangling five caroms in a reserve role. Kilkenny, a freshman from Castlebar, Co. Mayo, shot 1-for-7 from the field and 3-for-4 from the foul line. Her lone field goal was a three-pointer. Kilkenny then scored eight points in Manhattan’s 70-52 semifinal round loss to St. Peter’s. She connected on 4-for-5 from the floor.
Men’s basketball
Azusa Pacific won a GSAC tournament first-round game over Vanguard, 102-89, with sophomore center Gary Dredge contributing six points and six rebounds. The 6-foot-9 sophomore center from Clondalkin, Co. Dublin, shot 3-for-4 from the floor. As is his custom, he got in early foul trouble and was limited to 12 minutes. Dredge went scoreless in the Cougars’ loss to Westmont, 81-73, in a semifinal round game. Azusa, ranked third in the NAIA, now advances to the NAIA tournament in Tulsa, Okla., which is held March 14-20.
Track & Field
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Providence College’s Keith Kelly won the 5,000-meter run at the IC4A Indoor Championships at Harvard with a time of 13 minutes, 57.78 seconds. Kelly, a junior from Drogheda, finished more than eight seconds before the second finisher. Iona’s Vinny Mulvey, a junior from Ashbourne, Co. Meath, ran fourth in 14:14.52. Providence’s Dermot Galvin, a junior from Kilrush, Co. Clare, was eighth, with a time of 14:30.77.
Tennis
Claire Curran picked up a pair of victories playing at the No. 2 singles position as the second-ranked University of California women’s team split a pair of contests last week. The Bears beat Arizona, 7-2, as Curran iced Lindsay Blau, 6-4, 6-0. Curran, a senior from Dublin, lost a first doubles match with Amy Jensen to Blau and Michelle Gough, 8-4. The Bears then lost to Arizona State, 5-4. Curran defeated Kerry Giardino, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, and joined Jensen to triumph over Faye Devera and Celena McCoury, 8-3, at first doubles.
The Indiana’s men’s team defeated Austin Peay, 7-0, with senior George McGill coming through at third singles with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Steve White. McGill is from Limerick.
Rice knocked off Furman, 5-2, with Dublin senior Robert Collins joining Prakash Venkataraman at first doubles for an 8-4 victory over James Cameron and John Chesworth.