Jan. 24, 2007

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The Saint Joseph's women's basketball is one win away from its first Big 5 title since the 2000-01 season as the Hawks topped Penn, 62-51, Wednesday evening in a City Series contest at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse. Saint Joseph's, which improved to 3-0 in the Big 5 with the win, will host Temple at 5 p.m. on Sunday for the Big 5 championship.

Saint Joseph's jumped out to a quick 11-2 edge in the first half, going four-of-five from the field, with a layup by senior guard Whitney Ffrench capping the run at 16:34.

Trailing by nine, 13-4, the Quakers rallied with six straight points to cut the deficit to 13-10 on a three pointer by Joey Rhoads with 13:03 remaining in the first half.

Following a Saint Joseph's timeout, the Hawks responded with 11 straight points of their own, opening up a 24-10 advantage. Junior guard Timisha Gomez scored points during the SJU streak as senior guard Ayahna Cornish capped the run on a layup with 4:59 left in the first.

The Hawks would extend their lead to 16, 31-15, before settling on a 31-17 lead heading into halftime.

In the second half, Saint Joseph's opened up an 18-point lead, 35-17, but Penn would fight its way back.

Down 16, 41-25, the Quakers used a 10-1 run to cut their deficit to seven on a Kelly Scott jump shot with 10:34 remaining.

Saint Joseph's opened up a 12-point lead behind a 5-0 run, but Penn didn't quit as it used a 10-3 run, from 7:58 to 5:03, to cut the deficit to 50-45.

Leading by eight, 55-47, Saint Joseph's held Penn at bay, outscoring the Quakers 7-4, over the remaining time to earn the win.

For the game, the Hawks finished 20-of-51 from the field (39.2 percent), 4-of-13 from behind the arc (30.8 percent), but only 18-of-30 from the foul line (60.0 percent). At the other end, Penn finished 17-of-57 from the floor (29.8 percent), 4-of-13 from three-point range (30.8 percent) and 13-of-21 from the foul line (61.9 percent).

Individually, Cornish led all scorers with 18 points, to go with five rebounds, while Ffrench added 17 points and four assists.

At the other end, Monica Naltner scored 16 points, while Joey Rhoads added 14.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 11-8 overall, while Penn falls to 6-10 overall and finished 0-4 in Big 5 play.