WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – The University of Saint Joseph basketball team built an early 20-point lead but Connecticut College staged a furious comeback to defeat the Blue Jays 71-61 Saturday in a non-conference game at the O'Connell Center.

Connecticut College improved to 6-1 overall; USJ is 4-3.

Mairead Hynes (Mahopac, N.Y.) had 24 points and 17 rebounds to lead Conn., including 19 points and 11 rebounds in the second half. Carlee Smith (Willimantic, Conn.) scored 14 and Liz Malman (Mendham, N.J.) 10 for the Camels.

"We certainly do not want to get in the habit of starting games as slowly as we did this afternoon and we have to give St. Joe's a lot of credit as well for putting us in such a big hole," Connecticut College Head Coach Brian Wilson said.  "I am so proud of our group for responding the way they did: they stayed together and just kept battling.  Things looked really bleak when we were down 25-5 but our team never gave up and never stopped believing.  We obviously need to figure out how to start games with a much higher intensity level but our comeback revealed a lot of our character this afternoon."

Heather Framski (Prospect, Conn.) led five Blue Jays in double figures with 14 points and she also had 10 rebounds and four steals. Kara Thibodeau (Chaplin, Conn.) scored 12 for USJ and Brianna Ferraro (Waterbury, Conn.), Lindsay Feducia (Beacon Falls, Conn.) and Lindsey Dionne (Portland, Conn.) had 11 apiece.

Feducia scored seven early points and eight consecutive points from Dionne ended a run that saw USJ take a 25-5 lead after 8:20. The Blue Jays made 8 of their first 12 field goal attempts while Conn. was 2-for-13 over the same stretch.

Connecticut College slowly whittled away its deficit and trailed 32-25 at halftime after a jumper from Smith with six seconds left in the half. The Camels got their first lead of the day 3:10 into the second half at 33-32 on a layup by Hynes. There were three ties and seven lead changes in the second half. USJ got its last lead 50-48 on a pair of Feducia free throws with 7:43 remaining and Connecticut College took control for good at 52-50 on two Hynes free throws with 6:59 left.

Connecticut College outrebounded USJ 54-34 and turned 18 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points. USJ had its best free throw shooting game of the season, connecting on 19 of 22 at the line.