Jan. 17, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Shooting 63.3 percent in the second half (19-of-30) and posting a 21-2 run, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team topped Richmond, 70-42, Saturday evening at the Gallagher Center. The Hawks earned move to 1-2 in the Atlantic 10 and 9-9 overall with the win as they held the Spiders to 5-of-26 from the field (19.2 percent) in the final stanza.

Tied at 27 apiece, Saint Joseph's flew out of halftime, opening a double digit lead, 40-29, on a layup by sophomore forward Dominique Bryant at 15:53. From there, the Hawks would score eight more points to cap a 21-2 run that spanned the opening 8:17 of the second half.

Bryant and junior forward Ashley Logue combined for 10 of SJU's 21 points during the stretch with freshman forward Kelly Cavallo adding a layup to complete the run.

Defensively, Saint Joseph's held Richmond to 1-of-13 from the floor and caused five turnovers as the Hawks took control of the game.

The Spiders (14-4, 2-1 A-10) didn't give in though and cut their deficit to 13, 51-38, with 8:22 left in the game.

However, the Hawks responded on both ends. Saint Joseph's outscored Richmond 19-4 to end the game, holding the Spiders to 2-of-9 from the floor and just 0-for-3 from the foul line.

The Hawks, who were outscored 16-4 in the paint in the first half, finished the game with a 36-22 edge in scoring in the paint, while the SJU bench doubled up it's opponent, 22-11.

Neither team was able to pull away from the other over the opening 20 minutes of play, with the game featuring seven ties and five lead changes.

Down by its biggest deficit of the contest, 11-6, Saint Joseph's used an 11-0 run from 12:05 to 7:46 to open up its biggest lead of the half, 17-11, on a layup by Bryant.

Richmond slowly chipped away, regaining the lead twice and scoring the final basket of the first half with :07 seconds remaining to tie the game at 27 heading into the lockerroom.

For the game, Saint Joseph's shot a season-best 53.8 percent from the field (28-of-52), while the defense held the Spiders to just 29.3 percent from the floor (17-of-58) and just three assists. Led by Logue's team-high 10 rebounds, the Hawks out rebounded Richmond 42-32.

Individually, Logue posted her second career double-double, adding 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting and 4-of-5 from the line to go with her 10 rebounds. She also added a team-high four steals, while classmate Mariame Djouara scored 12 points and had four assists. Junior guard Amy Gillespie scored 10 points off the bench for the Hawks, with Bryant and freshman guard Michelle Baker adding nine and eight points, respectively. Senior point guard Mary Kate McDade added a team-high seven assists to go with seven points and six rebounds, while Cavallo and sophomore forward Alexis Johnson added two points apiece.

At the other end, Brittani Shells had 15 points for the Spiders, while Samantha Bilney added 10 points and six rebounds.

Saint Joseph's returns to action next Saturday, January 24, at Saint Louis. Game time is set for 8 p.m. EST.

- SJU -