March 2, 2007

Box Score

CINCINNATI, OH - Bursting out of the gates to a 19-2 lead, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship with a 68-52 win over Rhode Island Friday afternoon at the Cintas Center. With the victory, the fifth-seeded Hawks will face the 4th-seeded Charlotte 49ers at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Saint Joseph's raced out of the gates to a 19-2 edge just 7:36 into the game. Hawks' sophomore guard Jen Oyler scored eight of here career-high 21 points during that stretch, with senior guard Whitney Ffrench capping the run with a three pointer at the 12:24 mark.

Leading 21-8, Saint Joseph's put together a 13-2 run to extend its lead to 34-10 on an Oyler jump shot with 5:29 left in the half.

Holding a 37-18 edge heading into the second half, the Hawks extended their lead to 23, 43-20, on a layup by freshman forward Brittany Ford with 15:52 remaining in the game.

The Rams kept fighting though, and behind a pressing defense, cut their deficit to 13, 61-48. Rhode Island used an 11-3 run, capped by a Jessica Magley jump shot with 5:29 remaining, to get back into the game.

Saint Joseph's kept its composure though and outscored Rhode Island 7-4 to end the game and earn the win.

For the game, the Hawks shot 24-of-53 (45.3 percent), 8-of-23 from three-point range (34.8 percent) and 12-of-15 from the foul line (80 percent). At the other end, Rhode Island went 19-of-59 from the field (32.2 percent), 0-of-9 from behind the arc, and 14-of-19 from the foul line (73.7 percent).

Individually, Oyler led the Hawks with 21 points to go with five rebounds, two assists and a block, while Ford chipped in a career-high 14 points.

Magley paced the Rams with a career-best 23 points, while their leading score Safi Mojidi was held to two points, well below her 16.3-point average.

With the win, the Hawks improve to 17-12 on the year, while Rhode Island caps its year at 6-23.