Box Score

St. Mary's City, Md. - The visiting Maroons of Roanoke College overcame a nine-point setback in the final seven minutes of the game to post a 59-54 season-opening win over St. Mary's College of Maryland Friday night in the first game of the 2009 Cherry Cove/Seahawk Tip-Off Tournament, spoiling the Seahawks' home-opener. 

The Seahawks (0-2) stretched their lead to nine with 6:57 left in the game on a three-point shot by junior guard Jamie Roberts (Rockville, Md./Barrie) as the home team used a 12-3 run to break a 34-34 tie.  Roanoke began chipping away at the deficit 16 seconds later as senior guard Jalessa Osborne (Ordinary, Va./Gloucester) sparked a 10-0 run with her first long-range shot of the night, giving the Maroons a 47-46 lead at 4:04.

Roanoke (1-0) seemed to have the game in hand with a five-point lead and 47 seconds remaining; however, freshman guard Pui Sham (Springfield, Va./W. Springfield) cut the lead to two 11 seconds later but Osborne sealed the win for the Maroons with a 4-of-4 effort from the free throw line.

Osborne led all players with 17 points, including 13 in the second half, as she was 5-of-9 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.  Sophomore center Nicci Moats (Blue Ridge, Va./Lord Botetourt) hauled in a game-high 12 boards while adding nine points and two blocks.  Junior guard Rebecca Bays (Roanoke, Va./William Byrd) was the other Roanoke player in double digits with 10 points.

St. Mary's overcame an early 6-0 setback to post a 30-26 halftime lead behind eight points from Sham as she was 3-of-5 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from downtown.  Guards Stephanie Saint-Aubin (Bowie, Md./Elizabeth Seton) and Jasmine Jones (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) each pulled down five first-half boards to pace all rebounders.  Bays had six points while Moats grabbed five boards to pace the Maroons in the first half.

As a team, St. Mary's shot 38.5% from the floor in comparison to Roanoke's 35.6%.  Turnovers were relatively close as the Seahawks committed 18 and the Maroons had 16.  Roanoke was steady at the free throw line, making all but five of its 17 attempts.

Sham paced the Seahawks with 13 points while Roberts added 10 off the bench.  Saint-Aubin grabbed 10 rebounds and chipped in nine points along with three assists.

St. Mary's returns to action this Sunday, November 22 as the Seahawks face Widener University in the final game of the 2009 Cherry Cove/Seahawk Tip-Off Tournament.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 pm.

Roanoke will face Widener tomorrow at 2:00 pm.