Dec. 30, 2006

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Behind the heroic efforts of Hawk Classic MVP Jessica Dickson, South Florida topped the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team, 80-76, in overtime of the Hawk Classic title game at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse Friday evening.

With her team down 71-68 with less than 10 seconds left to play, Dickson curled around a screen and drained a long three-pointer with two Saint Joseph's defenders challenging her to tie the game at 71 with 1.8 seconds left.

Saint Joseph's senior guard Ayahna Cornish had a look for the game winner at the buzzer, but her deep attempt was off the mark, and the contest went into overtime.

In the extra frame, both team jostled back and forth over the 3:12 with the score tied at 76 apiece.

From there, the Bulls' ChiChi Okpaleke put her team up 78-76 on a layin with just over a 1:30 left.

The Hawks had several opportunities to tie. Okpaleke blocked Cornish's layup attempt with 35 seconds remaining on SJU's best possesion.

South Florida maintained possession of the rebound off the block, and after running the clock down, Dickson made a jumpshot to seal the victory, 80-76, with 5.4 remaining in the game.

In the first half, the Hawks came out in control and led by seven, 20-13, at the 9:38 mark.

The Bulls fought back though. Trailing 28-21 with 6:24 remaining in the half, South Florida used a 14-2 run to close out the opening period and take a 35-30 edge into halftime.

Momentum carried over into the second half for the Bulls as they opened up their biggest lead of the game, 42-32, on a Dickson jumper at the 18:01 mark.

Down 55-46, the Hawks mounted a comeback. Behind a 21-8 run, Saint Joseph's opened up a 67-63 lead on a Cornish layup with 4:06 left in regulation.

After both teams exchanged three points, Cornish put the Hawks ahead by three, 71-68 with seven seconds remaining on a three-point play.

Unfortunately for Saint Joseph's, the All-American candidate Dickson drilled the difficult three pointer to tie the game.

For the contest, the Hawks went 24-of-64 from the floor (37.5 percent), 10-of-24 from behind the arc (41.7 percent) and 18-of-27 from the foul line (66.7 percent). At the other end, the Bulls shot 31-of-60 from the floor (51.7 percent), 7-of-15 from three-point range (46.7 percent) and 11-of-22 from the foul line (50.0 percent).

Individually, Cornish led the Hawks with 26 points to go with 10 rebounds and a steal. SJU sophomore Jen Oyler add 20 points and 11 rebounds for her first career double-double, while classmate Jenna Loschiavo added 15 points.

Dickson paced all scorers with a game-high 33 points to go with seven rebounds, while Shanite Grace added 17 points and Daiane Packer finished with 14.

With the loss, the Hawks fall to 6-6 on the season, while the Bulls improve to 11-2.

In the consolation game, Vermont (9-3) used a 15-6 run at the start of the second half to defeat the Northeastern Huskies (1-11) 55-47.

The teams started slow out of the gate, combining to make just three of their first 24 shots. Vermont took a 4-2 lead with 16:56 remaining in the first half before both teams suffered a scoring drought lasting over five minutes. Carr's pair of free throws ended the skid at the 11:43 mark, and the Huskies took a 24-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Catamounts scored the first six points of the second half to tie the score at 24 with 19:07 to play. After ties at 26-26, 30-30, and 35-35, Vermont took the lead for good on a free throw by Rosenkrantz with 8:39 to go. The Catamounts pushed the margin as high as 11, with a 17-6 run leaving the score at 52-41 with 2:28 remaining. Northeastern then reeled off six straight points to cut the lead to five with just under a minute to play. However, it was too little, too late for the undermanned Huskies, who only suited up eight players for the game. Free throws set the final margin at eight.

Sophomore Amy Rosenkrantz and freshmen May Kotsopoulos and Courtney Pilypaitis all pitched in 12 points in the winning effort. Pilypaitis recorded a double-double for the Catamounts by adding 12 rebounds. Junior guard Lucia Pablos, who poured in 19 points and added eight rebounds, led Northeastern. Freshman forward Kim Carr just missed a double-double of her own, hauling in 12 rebounds to go with her nine points.

Dickson, the Hawk Classic MVP was joined on the All-Classic Team by teammate Shanita Grace, Saint Joseph's Ayahna Cornish and Jen Oyler, Northeastern's Lucia Pablos and Vermont's Courtnay Pilypaitis.

Saint Joseph's returns to action Wednesday, January 3 versus Villanova at 6 p.m.