Nov. 18, 2005
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA -
Behind a game-high 16 points from junior guard Ayahna Cornish, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team opened its 2005-06 season with a 58-46 victory over Princeton Friday night at alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
The Hawks opened the new season with a flash as they quickly jumped out to a 9-0 on the Tigers. Senior forward Maura McBryan accounted for four of Saint Joseph's points during the streak as Cornish capped the run with a free throw at 14:40.
Trailing early, Princeton fought back with a 9-2 run of its own, as the Tigers held Saint Joseph's to two Cornish free throws over the next 4:31.
Following a 30-second timeout to gather themselves, the Hawks opened up a 15-point lead, scoring 17 of the next 19 points to take a 26-11 lead on a pair of free throws from junior guard Whitney Ffrench.
Leading by 13 at the half, 30-17, Saint Joseph's quickly extended its lead to 18. Sophomore guard Timisha Gomez added a pair of free throws, while McBryan added a three pointer at 19:00, to take a 35-17.
Princeton cut the Hawks lead to eight, 42-34, on a pair of free throws by Becky Brown with 7:56 remaining, but Saint Joseph's responded as Cornish added back-to-back breakaway layups to push the Hawk lead back to double digits.
Both teams would exchange short runs over the final minutes, but the Hawks maintained a double figure lead throughout as it earned its third straight victory in season openers.
For the game, the Hawks shot 37 percent from the floor (20-of-54) and 21.4 percent from behind the arc (3-of-14). Princeton, who went 4-for-21 in the first half, finished 14-of-44 from the floor for the game (31.8 percent) and were held scoreless from three-point range (0-12).
On the boards, Saint Joseph's won the hard-fought battle 38-36 as freshman center Hillary Klimowicz grabbed a game-high nine for Saint Joseph's in her Hawk Hill debut.
Individually, Cornish finished 6-of-16 from the field, with nine of her points coming in the second stanza. Ffrench was the only other Hawk to score in double digits, scoring six of her 10 points from the free throw line to go with a game-high four assists.
Klimowicz added nine points as she came off the bench for Hawks' head coach Cindy Griffin, while McBryan added seven points in a starting role. Gomez added four points, while freshmen guards Jen Oyler and Jenna Loschiavo added a three-pointer apiece. Senior forward Faith Schutte, junior center Zoya Pavlovskaya and sophomore center Erica Polloc each added two points apiece.
At the other end, Becky Brown scored a team-high 15 points and Jessica Berry added 10 points as the duo grabbed seven rebounds apiece.
With the victory, the Hawks improve to 1-0 on the season, while the Tigers fall to 0-1. The win also extends Saint Joseph's winning streak to seven over Princeton as the Hawks move to 7-0 lifetime versus the Tigers.
Saint Joseph's will remain at home this weekend as they host #23/25 North Carolina State Sunday at 2 p.m.
**Photographs of today's game, as well as past Hawk games can be viewed at www.sidephotos.com.
