Jan. 3, 2007

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Behind a 12-2 run midway through the second half, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team downed Villanova, 56-48, in its Big 5 opener at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse Wednesday evening.

Trailing 31-23 with 12:03 remaining in the game, Saint Joseph's mounted a 12-2 streak to take the lead for the first time since the opening moments of the first half. Nine of the Hawks 12 points came from behind the arc, with sophomore guard Jenna Loschiavo putting SJU ahead 35-33 on a three at the 8:01 mark.

Both teams exchanged baskets, with the game remaining knotted at 39 with 5:58 remaining.

From there, the Hawks began to walk away from the Wildcats. Saint Joseph's strung together a 12-4 run over the next three minutes, taking a 54-43 edge on a pair of free throws by junior guard Timisha Gomez with 2:49 left in the contest. Saint Joseph's senior guard Ayahna Cornish's 17 second-half points helped spark SJU as it outscored the Wildcats 38-27 in the second stanza en route to its first win over the Wildcats since the 2001-02 season.

In the first half, the Hawks jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, with sophomore guard Jen Oyler knocking down five of her 10 points in the opening 1:40.

Despite trailing, the Wildcats remained composed. Down 9-5, Villanova went on a 14-3 run, opening its biggest lead, 19-12, on a three pointer by Siobhan O'Connor with 8:31 left in the first half.

The Wildcats would keep its distance over the final minutes, taking a 21-17 edge into the half. Saint Joseph's, which made three of its first four shots, went 4-of-20 to finish the first stanza and finished 7-of-24 from the floor in the opening half (29.2 percent).

Villanova quickly outscored the Hawks 8-4 to open the second half, before SJU began its comeback.

For the game, Saint Joseph's went 17-of-51 from the field (33.3 percent), 7-of-19 from three-point range (36.8 percent) and 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) from the foul line. At the other end, the Wildcats finished 18-of-50 from the field (36.0 percent), 4-of-16 from behind the arc and 8-of-9 from the foul line.

Individually, Cornish led all scorers with 20 points, to go with seven rebounds and four steals, while Oyler was the only other Hawk in double figures with 10 points and a block. Senior forward Erica Pollock added a game-high 12 rebounds and six points.

Jackie Adamshick and Lisa Karcic added 15 apiece for Villanova in the loss.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 7-6 on the season and 1-0 in the Big 5. With the loss, Villanova falls to 6-8 on the year and finish its Big 5 schedule 1-3.

Saint Joseph's returns to action next Tuesday, January 9 at Temple at 7 p.m.