PHILADELPHIA (3/19/03) - Cranking up its defensive pressure, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team (19-10) limited Delaware (22-9) to just 33.3% shooting for the game and posted a 65-47 win at the Fieldhouse in the opening round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Junior Irina Krasnoshiok led three Hawks in double figures with 14 points. "This team had something to prove,"stated Hawk head coach Cindy Griffin. "We want to win this thing. We're going to take it day-by-day and game-by-game. This team can win this tournament. " The Hens led by a bucket on two occassions in the opening minutes, but SJU used a 17-2 run to take a commanding lead that it never relinquished. The spurt gave St. Joe's a 13-point buffer that would grow to as many as 16 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Hawks led by a dozen at the break, 33-21. UD threatened only briefly in the second stanza, cutting the SJU advantage down to seven-points with 9:32 left, 43-36. Junior Amra Mehmedic answered the call for the Hawks draining a three to push the lead back out to double digits. Delaware clawed within eight on a pair of free throws by Christine Cole, but a short jumper by SJU junior Colleen McGahan and a pair of charity tosses by Erin Brady curbed the Hens and St. Joe's was never threatened again. The Crimson and Gray pulled away late and the final 18-point margin, 65-47, proved to be the game's largest. "We made free throws when we needed to and Amra [Mehmedic] made a big three to put it back to 10," assessed Griffin. Besides Krasnoshiok, Mehmedic added 12 points and Brady had 10 for the Hawks. Fellow junior Elizabeth "Hootie" Mohan, making her first start in nearly two months contributed seven points, eight boards and seven assists. "We expected to get into the NCAAs," commented Mehmedic, "but unfortunately we didn't. The mentality was we are where we are and there are not a lot of teams that play right now. This team loves to play together and we don't want to end it." UD sophomore Tiara Malcom led all scorers with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Classmate Julie Sailer added 10 points and seven boards. The Hawks sizzled in the first half shooting 65.0% from the floor, and 85.7% (6-7) from beyond the arc. St. Joe's shot 51.2% overall, 66.7% from long distance. UD, meanwhile, shot only 33.3% for the game and failed to connect from three-point range. Neither team took care of the ball well as the Hens committed 25 turnovers and SJU coughed up the pill 20 times. The Hawks will play the winner of Thursday's Georgetown/Richmond game on either Saturday, Sunday or Monday at a site and time yet to be determined.