Feb. 12, 2006

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - A free throw by junior guard Whitney Ffrench with 5.6 seconds remaining helped the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team hold off the Dayton Flyers, 66-65, Sunday at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.

Leading by as many as 15 in the second half, the Hawks saw their lead chipped away by a relentless Dayton squad.

Trailing by 12 with 9:32 remaining, Dayton used a 10-0 run over the next five minutes to come within two, 61-59, on a Brittany Holterman free throw at 4:19.

The Hawks regrouped and extended their lead to five, 64-59, on a free throw by senior forward Maura McBryan with 39 seconds left.

The flyers responded with a three-pointer by Karah Cloxton 13 seconds later, as Saint Joseph's lead was cut to 64-62.

On the ensuing play, sophomore guard Timisha Gomez made only one of two from the line after being fouled on the inbounds pass.

Dayton sped down and Cloxton found an open Kiki Lund for three to tie the ball game up at 65 with 15 seconds left.

With the game tied for the first time since the first half, Ffrench drove past Cloxton down the right side of the lane and was hammered on the way up. The junior guard made the first, but had the second bounce long into Dayton's possession.

Fortunately for the Hawks, good pressure on the ball forced a desperate three-pointer from Cloxton at the buzzer that bounced harmlessly off the backboard.

In the first half, Dayton jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on back-to-back layups by Cara Wright.

Both teams battled back and forth over the opening 14 minutes, as the Flyers held a 23-18 advantage with 6:32 left in the stanza.

From there, the Hawks went on a 12-0 run, taking a 30-23 advantage on a three pointer by Jenna Loschiavo at 4:16.

Saint Joseph's would extend its lead to as many as 13, 38-25, before Dayton fought back to make the score 38-29 at the half.

For the game, the Hawks finished 16-of-49 from the field (32.7 percent), with seven of them coming from behind the arc (32.7 percent). At the other end, the Flyers went 24-of-55 (43.6 percent) and 3-of-12 from behind the arc (25 percent). The difference in the game came at the foul line, as the Hawks made 27-of-37, while Dayton finished 14-of-18.

Individually, Gomez led all SJU scorers with a career-high 19 points, including a career-best four from behind the arc. Senior Faith Schutte and freshman Hillary Klimowicz added 10 apiece.

For Dayton, Wright paced the Flyers with 19, on 9-of-10 shooting and 1-of-2 from the line. Jennifer Strong and Nikki Oakland added 11 and 12 points, respectively.

With the victory, the Hawks improve to 16-7 on the season and 8-4 in the Atlantic 10. The loss drops Dayton to 15-8 overall and 7-5 in A-10 play. Today's game was pushed back from a 2 p.m. start to 5 p.m. due to the snow storm that hit Philadelphia.

Saint Joseph's returns to action Friday, February 17 at Big 5 rival Temple. The game, which will be televised locally on CN8, is scheduled for 8 p.m.