STANDISH, ME - Saint Joseph's College (6-2) defeated Green Mountain College (4-2), 62-51, to claim the 2008 Merry Monk Classic Tournament Championship at the Harold Alfond Center on Saturday afternoon. Carolyn Freeman '10 (Scarborough, ME/McAuley) led the Lady Monks with 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to record her second double-double of the tourney and collected Merry Monk Most Valuable Player honors. Eagles forward Christina Chamberlin ‘09 (Woodstock, VT) led all players with 14 points and 15 boards in the losing effort. Presque Isle defeated the College of St. Joseph in the consolation contest prior to the championship game.

For St. Joe's, Allison Miner ‘10 (Pembroke, NH) posted her first double-double of the season with 13 rebounds and 12 points and Meghan Daigle ‘10 (Grantham, NH) netted 12 points with 9 boards.

For Green Mountain, Emma Buckley ‘10 (Lakeville, CT) had 12 rebounds, nine points and three blocks and Brittany Holden ‘09 (Schenectady, NY) also tallied nine points.

The Lady Monks led 8-0 after three minutes of play when Miner converted a three-point play, which was the result of excellent upcourt ball movement from Erin Cartwright ‘11 (Acton, MA) and Freeman.

With two minutes left in the first, Megan McDevitt ‘12 (Cumberland, ME) scored five points, off two and three point jumpers, in a matter of 30 seconds to help the Royal Blue stay comfortably ahead of the Eagles. St. Joe's held at least an eight-point advantage for the last 10 minutes of the first half and led by 13, 28-15, at the break. The Eagles shot just 16.2% (6-37) from the field in the opening stanza.

After Miner hit her second jumpshot of the second half at the 14:38 mark to provide the Lady Monks with a 38-25 lead, Green Mountain mounted an 11-3 run in the following three minutes to draw within five of St. Joe's, 46-41. Chamberlin and Molly Hopper ‘11 (Gouvernor, NY) combined to score nine of the 11 points during the GMC surge.

The five-point deficit was as close as the Eagles would get to the Lady Monks, however as the host team would maintain at least a seven-point advantage for the remainder of the game and held an 11 point lead, 62-51, when the final buzzer rang.

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM

Carolyn Freeman, Saint Joseph's College - Most Valuable Player

Allison Miner, Saint Joseph's College

Christina Chamberlin, Green Mountain College

Megan Korhonen, University of Maine at Presque Isle

Jessica Cortese, College of St. Joseph