Dec. 7, 2005

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - It took until March for Saint Joseph's women's basketball team to earn its seventh victory last season. This year, it took only 19 days as the Hawks improved to 7-0 on the year with a 70-57 win over Penn at the Palestra Wednesday evening.

Saint Joseph's jumped out to an early six-point advantage as the outscored the Quakers 11-5 to open the game. Freshman center Hillary Klimowicz paced the Hawks with six of her team-high 15 points during that stretch.

Trailing by five, 22-17, Penn went on a 7-1 run to take its first lead of the game on a jumpshot by senior Jennifer Fleischer at 8:19.

Hawks' freshman guard quickly answered for Saint Joseph's with a three-pointer at the other end as she sparked a 7-0 run.

Leading 36-33 at 1:48, Saint Joseph's tallied the final six points of the half to take a 42-33 edge into the lockerroom.

Saint Joseph's opened its biggest lead of the game, 13 points, on a three pointer from junior guard Ayahna Cornish at 11:20. Cornish capped an 8-2 run for the Hawks that put them ahead 57-44.

Penn mounted a furious comeback over the next six minutes as the Quakers went on a 11-0 run to cut the deficit to 57-55 on a layup by Joey Rhoads at 7:13.

The Quakers had three opportunities to tie or take the lead, but junior guard Whitney Ffrench began an 11-0 run that put the Hawks up 68-55 in the final seconds. The Hawks scored all 11 points from the free throw line to ice the game.

For the game, Saint Joseph's shot 50 percent (23-of-46) from the field and 38.9 percent (5-of-13) from behind the arc, while the Quakers finished 19-of-56 from the field (33.8 percent) and 3-of-13 from three-point range (23.1 percent). From the line, the Hawks knocked down 19-of-23 (82.6 percent) as Penn shot 16-of-26 (61.5 percent)

Individually, Klimowicz paced the Hawks with her second double-double of her young career as she posted 15 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with six blocks, two assists and two steals. Cornish and senior forward Faith Schutte were the only other Saint Joseph's players to score in double figures as they added 13 and 11, respectively.

For the Quakers, Rhoads led the way with a game-high 21 points, while Fleischer added 16 points and 12 rebounds.

With the victory, the Hawks improve to 7-0 and 1-0 in the Big 5. Penn falls to 1-6 overall with the loss and 0-3 in Big 5 play. Saint Joseph's win snapped a five-game losing skid for the Hawks in Big 5 action and improved their all-time series lead to 30-1 over Penn.

Saint Joseph's returns to action Sunday as it travels up the Main Line to Big 5 rival Villanova. Game time is set for 1 p.m.