PHILADELPHIA (03/03/02) - Sparked by a hot-shooting offensive attack and 32 points from senior Susan Moran, Saint Joseph's (23-6) advanced to the Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship game with a 90-80 victory over Xavier (12-19) at the Liacouras Center. The win propelled SJU into the title game for the eighth time in school history and the first time since 1999. The Hawks will face Temple in the tournament's title game on Monday at 5:30 PM. Both team's sizzled from the field in this game with Xavier hitting at a 57.9% clip and SJU at an astounding 62.7% rate. In the end, however, it was the little things that seemed to matter the most. The Hawks hammered the Musketeers on the boards 36-17. In addition the Crimson and Gray capitalized at the free throw line knocking down 21-30 at the stripe to just 8-12 for XU. "I think that the difference if you look at the stats was the rebounding," stated SJU head coach Cindy Anderson-Griffin. "We won in the 'hustle-play' division today. I think that is what it came down to." The Hawks crept out to a slim early lead in the ballgame, but XU hung around. When the Musketeers' Reetta Pipari converted a three-point play with 10:45 remaining in the first half Xavier closed to within one, 21-20. The one-point margin was the closest Xavier would get the rest of the way. Led by Moran and a spark off the bench from junior Takeya Trayer (five points), SJU pushed out to a nine-point advantage. They then expanded that lead to 13-points at halftime, 47-34. A quick 7-0 run to open the second half, capped by a three-pointer from Amra Mehmedic, quickly pushed SJU out to its largest lead of the game at 20 points, 54-34, with 18:17 remaining. The Hawks were never seriously threatened the rest of the way. Xavier briefly whittled the SJU lead down to nine-points on one occasion (71-62), but the Crimson and Gray were able to push the lead back out to 17-points. The Hawk women then coasted to the win. Moran, who had her sixth 30+ point outburst of the year and finished just three points shy of the tournament's single game scoring record, was again the catalyst for SJU. She connected on 10-16 shots from the field and 12-13 from the charity stripe. The alltime leading scorer in school history, she now has 2,279 career points. Talking about her efforts in the tournament, Moran said, "I felt good yesterday and I felt good today. My teammates are doing a great job getting me the ball in positions where I can be successful. It's definitely not a one man show and we're proving that this weekend." Besides Moran, sophomore Stephanie Graff was a perfect 7-7 from the field and tallied 18 points. Mehmedic added 14 points and a team-high six assists and senior Jane Meade chipped in with nine points. Moran, Graff and senior Amy Snell each grabbed seven rebounds to lead the team. Assessing her team's offensive explosion, Anderson-Griffin said, "I think we were in attack mode. Our post players fed off of yesterday's success and our guards did a great job of getting them the ball...I think there was more balanced scoring today." Pipari led four Musketeers in double figures with 21 points. The victory helped to snap a four-game Hawk losing streak against XU that dated back to the 2000 A-10 semifinals. That year, Xavier rallied from a 19-point halftime deficit to stun SJU in overtime. It also helped to avenge a 75-61 loss at the Cintas Center in early February, during which Moran became SJU's all-time leading scorer. Looking ahead to the prospects of playing for the A-10 crown Moran explained, "It is exciting to know that you are playing for something as big as an A-10 championship. To know just from my freshman year the feeling of cutting down the net afterwards. It is something we have been telling to the younger kids that you don't know how that feels. It is such a great feeling and something I want them to experience before I leave here." The win extended SJU's winning streak to seven-straight. The team also improved to 20-2 with the starting lineup of Moran, Mehmedic, Meade, graff and Snell and 22-1 when leading at intermission. The Hawks have won the A-10 crown the last two times they appeared in the finals in 1997 and 1999. The squad finished as tourney runners-up in 1987, 88, 90, 91 and 93. Anderson-Griffin was a member of the 1987, 88 and 90 Hawk squads.